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Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1 Blu-ray Review

Take a trip back in time with “Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1.”

In “Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1,” viewers are treated to 14 color theatrical short films from 1943-1945. The shorts include: “Her Honor, The Mare,” “The Marry Go-Round,” “We’re On Our Way To Rio,” “The Anvil Chorus Girl,” “Spinach-Packin’ Popeye,” “Puppet Love,” “Pitchin’ Woo At The Zoo,” “Moving Aweigh,” “She-Sick Sailors,” “Pop-Pie A La Mode,” “Tops In The Big Top,” “Shape Ahoy,” “For Better Or Nurse” and “Mess Production.” Plots include a trip to Rio, a horse, sleepwalking Olive Oyl a cannibal chef, blacksmithin’, bad dream, a bad puppet, a zoo outing, superheroism, an island vacation, musical numbers, and police run-ins. The bulk of the stories, however, involve Bluto and Popeye vying for the affection of Olive Oyl.

These “Popeye The Sailor” shorts are definitely old fashioned cartoons. They’re dated, they are most certainly not PC, Olive is largely a damsel in distress, and there’s plenty of now cliched cartoony antics ala Popeye’s heart popping out of his chest and a train smashing through Popeye. If you look past all of that and accept them as relics of a certain time period, you may find yourself enjoying the adventures of the spinach eating, bulky armed, pipe smoking, anchor tattooed, deep voiced, squinting Popeye. Of course, Popeye is not the only character here as Olive Oyl, Bluto, Popeye’s shipmate Shorty, and Popeye’s nephews Pipeye, Poopeye (yes, you read that right), Peepeye and Pupeye all appear as well.

Plot wise, there’s not a wide variety of stories here. As I mentioned, a lot of stories deal with the hulking Bluto and Popeye trying to woo Olive Oyl and often fighting amongst themselves for her in different locations and situations from a hospital to a circus. Perhaps the most interesting curiosity here is the “She-Sick Sailors” episode which features a Superman obsessed Olive Oyl, Bluto trying to become Superman to grab her attention, and Popeye proving his strength and worth. As a comic fan and a Superman, it’s just neat to see the character featured in another cartoon (especially way back in the 40s!).

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 4:3 1080p. How does it look? The colors really pop on these transfers. Fans will be pleased.

Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Surprisingly, the sound is incredibly crisp on these shorts.

No extras.

December 28, 2018 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Animated Series, Bluto, Cartoons, Olive Oyl, Popeye, Popeye The Sailor, Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1 Blu-ray Review, Warner Archive