Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)

That was an excellent one.

So much average

From my favorite movies..

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

CAST: Popeye (the spinach-eating sailor), Olive Oyl (the irresistible damsel), J. Wellington Wimpy (the hamburger fiend), Boola (the two-headed giant), Rokh (the mighty eagle), and Sindbad the Sailor (the most remarkable fellow).Voices: Jack Mercer (Popeye), Mae Questel (Olive Oyl), Gus Wickie (Bluto as Sindbad).Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Screenplay: Jack Mercer, Dan Gordon, Cal Howard, Tedd Pierce, Isidore Sparber. Adapted from a tale in The Arabian Nights. Popeye, Bluto, J. Wellington Wimpy and Olive Oyl based on characters created by Elzie Segar. Photographed in Color by Technicolor by Charles Schettler. Head animator: Willard Bowsky. Animators: George Germanetti, Edward Nolan. Music: Sammy Timberg. Song: "Sindbad the Sailor" (Wickie) by Sammy Timberg, Bob Rothberg, Sammy Lerner. Song: "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" (Mercer) by Sammy Lerner. Producer: Max Fleischer. Copyright 27 November 1936 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. Presented by Adolph Zukor. U.S. release: 27 November 1936. 2 reels. 16 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Sindbad (ingratiatingly enacted by Gus Wickie's Bluto) is the heavy in this one. Spying Olive Oyl basking on the deck of a passing yacht, he sends his giant eagle to wreck the boat and carry her off to his island stronghold. NOTES: Fleischer's first two-reel cartoon and also his first in color, was nominated for Best Cartoon, but lost out to Walt Disney's Country Cousin.COMMENT: The first reel, laying the groundwork for all the obligatory fisticuff action in the second, is the best. More lively, more imaginative, more entertaining. Some really memorable material here confirms Flesicher's repoutation as the crown prince of animators. Elaborate multi-celled action, breathtaking tracking shots, wonderful background settings and inventive directorial touches like the eagle's wings blocking the screen, lend credence to Fleischer's claim to rival Disney.

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor is a 1936 short animation; just think about that, this short that utilized rotoscoping, three-strip colour AND had a full orchestral score accompanied by voice acting in film, and this short also used 3D models as backgrounds almost half a century before Hollywood even had the ability to use CGI.Popeye has become a representative for American culture the world over; he's a spinach-eating pseudo-superhero who's still regarded as a truly beloved icon almost ninety years after he debuted in comic strips from King Features Syndicate.This short is a classic that's still a groundbreaking piece of cinema history; this short came at a time Popeye's popularity rivaled Mickey Mouse's in America.Popeye meets Sinbad is a classic and for good reason; it's funny, snappy, full of action and over-the-top goodness that makes animation such a good time.

One of the benefits of catching old time cartoons on Turner Classics is that every once in a while, the TCM host will have a guest on who knows something about the subject's history. In this case, the grandson of Max Fleischer was interviewed by Ben Mankiewicz prior to the airing of this and another one of the Popeye shorts. In his statements, Mark Fleischer explained how his grandfather had a professional rivalry with Walt Disney (even though they never met), and how both men had a difficult time convincing studios to go with a feature length animated film. Max Fleischer was able to prevail upon Paramount to at least go beyond the one reel format with this sixteen minute story. Disney won the larger argument when his production company released "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" the following year.Not having seen this one before, I was impressed with the colors and animation involved, particularly with the moving background that gave the picture a 3-D effect without the glasses! The beasts and plants on Sindbad's island were quite creative and gave Popeye and his crew a run for the money. The familiar characters of the Popeye franchise are on hand here, with Olive Oyl in her usual share of precarious predicaments, and J. Wellington Wimpy does all he can to maintain his hamburger supply. The temperamental bully Bluto is a stand-in for the title character Sindbad, (uncharacteristically spelled with a 'd" in the middle), who does his best to make life difficult for the Popeye crew.Another interesting tidbit from Mr. Fleischer - the original Popeye comic strip showed Popeye gaining his increased fighting strength by rubbing the feathers of a chicken! Max Fleischer didn't think the concept would work in an animation format, so he came up with the can of spinach as a substitute. I'd say that was a pretty good decision, how many Moms do you think were elated that their kids would actually go for eating their spinach if it meant being as strong as Popeye?

this is only the second animated Popeye short i have seen,the first one being With Swee' Pea,which i thought was pretty good.this one,i didn't like as much.it doesn't stack up too well,in my opinion.there's a lot of action,but i didn't find a lot of it all that funny.Bluto(Popeye's nemesis)plays Sinbad as a blow hard ego maniac.he has a few singing numbers,which are very brief,but i found them irritating.this feature is around 15 minutes long,and i found it a bit slow,even boring.With Swee' Pea was much more lite hearted,and "Sinbad" was much darker than i was expecting.i guess it's really a matter of taste.for me,Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor is a 4.5/10