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Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 3 Blu-ray Review

Grab your spinach and settle in for more Popeye shorts.

In the Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 3, viewers get 17 color theatrical shorts in 3 different formats (Cinecolor, Polacolor and Technicolor) from 1948 and 1949 titled “Olive Oyl For President,” Wigwam Whoopee,” “Pre-Hysterical Man,” “Popeye Meets Hercules,” “A Wolf In Sheik’s Clothing,” “Spinach vs. Hamburgers,” “Snow Place Like Home,” “Robin Hood-Winked,” “Symphony In Spinach,” “Popeye’s Premiere,” “Lumberjack and Jill,” “Hot Air Aces,” “A Balmy Swami,” “Tar With A Star,” “Silly Hillbilly,” “Barking Dogs Don’t Fite,” and “The Fly’s Last Flight.” In said episodes ot the classic, plots involve a dream in which Olive Oyl wins the Presidency, a Pocahontas esque tale, a caveman and dinosaur, a strength showdown between Hercules (AKA Bluto) and Popeye, a sheik wooing Olive Oyl, a pro-spinach clip show short, the North Pole, Popeye as Robin Hood, musicians, Popeye and Olive attending a movie premiere of “Aladdin’s Lamp,” lumberjacks, a plane race, Bluto as a fiendish magician, the old west, Popeye as a traveling salesman, a French Poodle, and a not so peaceful Popeye nap.

If you’ve devoured the first two volumes, you pretty much know what you’re getting with volume 3. Once again, you can expect Popeye to down spinach and become strong, Popeye trying to stop Bluto from wooing Olive Oyl, spoofs, the characters in various settings and time periods, sight gags galore (such as root beer from a tree root, a cow outside of “Wimpy’s Hamburger Haven” and a dwindling population sign in the old west), and, yes, some groan worthy racial stereotypes in shorts like “Wigwam Whoopee” and “A Wolf In Sheik’s Clothing.” Basically, if you’re a fan, this is good old fashioned vintage cartoon comfort food.

While everyone is sure to have their own favorites, I can say that 3 episodes stood out for me- “Robin Hood-Winked,” “Popeye’s Premiere,” and “Tar With A Star.” ‘Robin’ is just a fun spoof episode which I’m a sucker for. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve long been a Robin Hood fan either. ‘Premiere’ is a charming movie within a movie short while ‘Tar’ is a sight gag filled western hoot in which Popeye becomes a new Sheriff.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.37:1 1080p. How does it look? The shorts have been remastered from the original negatives and the results are stunning. The colors on each and every short are nothing short of striking.

Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Lively (especially for a Mono track).

No extras have been included.

September 15, 2019 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Animated Shorts, Bluto, Olive Oyl, Popeye, Popeye Shorts, Popeye The Sailor: the 1940s Volume 3 Blu-ray Review, Warner Archive