Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor

Adapted to the screens by Fleischer Studios, Popeye was able to surpass Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse at the 1930s box office and still remains an ingenious animated series. Fleischer Studios (who created the characters like Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, and was the first to adapt Superman as an animation film) was founded in 1921 by brothers Max Fleischer and David Fleischer until it was acquired by Paramount Pictures in 1942.

Unlike other studios of the time, especially Disney, who's characters were anthropomorphic animals, Fleischer's character were relatively more human, and much different from Disney's in concept and execution. They focused more on the surrealism, dark humor, adult psychological elements, and sexuality. The environments they used were more urban and gritty and were a reflection of the great depression. This made their characters more relatable even for the adults, who enjoyed them equally as the kids, thus giving these cartoons their popularity and mass appeal.

This particular episode I'm reviewing was the first Popeye cartoon ever made in Technicolor. Part of the "Popeye Color Specials", a trilogy of technicolor features consisting of 'Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor' (the name Sindbad uncharacteristically spelled with a 'd' in the middle) , 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves', and 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'. Each feature being over 16 minutes (3 times longer than the regular Popeye cartoon of those times, and thus considered a big-budget adaptation), they were often billed in cinemas alongside/above the main feature.

This was the only episode in the series and the only Popeye cartoon that was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936 for the Best Short Subject: Cartoons category (it lost to Walt Disney's Silly Symphony: The Country Cousin)

This feature starts off with Sindbad the Sailor (played by Bluto) who steps out from his island home, singing of his greatness:

"I'm Sindbad the Sailor, so hearty and hale I live on an island on the back of a whale It's a whale of an island - that's not a bad joke Its lord and its master is this handsome bloke! Who's the most remarkable extra-ordinary fellow? Sindbad The Sailor!"

From the first moment, the scene is set that Sindbad who may be a great sailor at one point, now has an hypertrophic ego and wants everyone to praise him. He has captured all kinds of exotic creatures and animals from his different conquests and adventures as trophies and makes them constantly sing praises for himself. His trophies include the giant vulture like bird Rokh, the two headed cycloptic giant Boola, and plenty of lions and snakes amongst others.

This is until the day Sindbad hears an uncanny tune of Popeye the Sailor, sailing on a ship near his island. Popeye is steering his ship, happily singing his song,

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, Popeye the Sailor Man I'm strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!"

along with J. Wellington Wimpy, who's making one hamburger after another and inhaling them with each breath and Olive Oyl, who's sitting on the ship's deck and enjoying the wonderful ocean breeze.

Sindbad notices the beautiful Olive Oyl on the ship and like his other trophies, he wants her too, setting his evil intentions. So he sends his giant bird, Rokh, to capture Olive and capsize Popeye's Boat. After capturing her, he forces Olive Oyl to dance for him by firing buckshot at her feet with a pea-shooter. Popeye sees this through his telescope and comes to the rescue of his beloved girlfriend with Wimpy following behind albeit unwillingly.

As the two great sailors meet, there a clear tension between the two with both trying to prove who is mightier. Popeye just wants Olive back, but Sindbad doesn't and so he challenges Popeye to a string of challenges including battling with Rokh and Boola, as Popeye emerges victorious from them all. Now the final battles ensues between Sindbad and Popeye, where relying on his spinach, Popeye finally defeats Sindbad and rescues his girl in a clear victory of the good over evil.

Overall the story is amusing, inventive, interesting, formulaic (as with all Popeye cartoons) and beautifully paced with there never being a dull moment and not a single second is wasted. The humor, verbal wit and the sight gags (like wimpy spotting a duck and wanting to grind it for meat for his hamburger) makes this short even more entertaining. The best parts are wild and hilarious with clever twists such as that of Popeye taking care of Sindbad giant bird Rokh.

The music is especially great, with lots of merry energy and lush orchestration and makes the impact even better without being too cartoonish. The songs in the feature including Sindbad's and Popeye's theme as well as the song sung by the two headed giant, cradling Popeye, fits beautifully in the film and is infectious on its own.

One of the best parts of this short I'd say is it's animation. Even after more than 80 years the animation is still magnificent and beautifully drawn with a good amount of visual detailing to not make it appear cluttered or saturated and is given lively and smooth movements. The most adventurous feat in the animation considering the time this was made is the depth effect. The scenes of the movie were shot on tabletop, where there is combination of 2D and 3D animation. Miniature sets were built on a stage and then the characters were animated and superimposed over this background, so that various object could pass in front/behind them. This creates an impression of depth and quality to viewer which gives the effect of moving backgrounds with a 3D effect and rich colors. The marvelous panning of the opening scenes displaying Sindbad's island and Popeye making an entrance to the island through its underground Mario Bava-esque eerie caves are clear and beautiful examples highlighting the stunning pseudo 3D depth effect of the animation. The studios must be very proud of their depth effect because they do show it off at every opportunity and it works!

It's no wonder that in 1994 this film short was ranked at #17 on the '50 Greatest Cartoons Of All Times' and since has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library Of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

An interesting fact I learnt during my research for this review, is about the spinach-eating trope used for Popeye.

In the original Popeye comic strip, Popeye gained his powers by rubbing the head of a feathery chicken character (Bernice the Whiffle Hen). It was later attributed to Popeye eating spinach by Fleischer in the animated series.

There is a frequently circulated story about Fleischer's choice of Spinach, of all the available vegetables, to give Popeye his strength. This was based on a faulty calculation of the iron content in spinach. As per the story, a scientist misplaced a decimal point in an 1870 measurement of spinach's iron content, leading to an iron value ten times higher than it should have been. (In actuality it was not a slipped decimal point but and actual measurement error). Although, this faulty measurement was corrected in the 1930s, the myth of extraordinarily high iron content in spinach persisted on, which prompted Fleischer to use Spinach as the main source of Popeye's strength.

Such was the popularity of Popeye at a time, that it boosted spinach sales across the country! Mothers started using Popeye as a role model for healthy eating for their children, and even a 2010 study revealed that children increased their vegetable consumption after watching Popeye cartoons. Such was the positive effects of Popeye on the spinach industry, that the spinach growing community of Crystal City (Texas) even erected a statue of the character in recognition its effects!

It's a shame Fleischer studios didn't have the same fate as that of Disney, because it's arguably one of the most progressive and best studios from the Golden Age of Animation. Anyone's time is much better spent watching this than the bad cartoons they air on tv these days. Comparing this 16-minute animation with those 30-45min animations is like comparing healthy food (spinach) with junk food.

Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor is a short, must watch for everyone, even if its just to rekindle our childhood memories.