Let's Sing with Popeye (1934)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Genre:

Animation | Short

Plot Keywords:

Popeye | Character Name In Title

Cast

William Costello

...

Popeye (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

2 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Company:

Fleischer Studios

Movie Connections:

Edited from Popeye the Sailor (1933)

Soundtrack:

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

He's Popeye the Sailor Man

"I'm Popeye the sailor man (toot) / I'm Popeye the sailor man (toot) / I yam wot I yam / And that's all wot I yam / I'm Popeye the sailor man / I'm one tough Gazookus / Wot hates all Palookas / Wot ain't on the ups and square / Boy! I biffs 'em and buffs 'em / And always out-roughs 'em / But none of 'em gets nowhere / Now if anyone dasses to risk my "fisk" / It's "Boff" and it's "Wham" understan'? / So, keep good behav'or / It's your one life-saver / With Popeye the sailor man! / Oh! I'm Popeye the sailor man (toot) / I'm Popeye the sailor man (toot) / I'm strong to the "finich" / 'Cause I eats me "SPINACH" / I'm Popeye the Sailor Man (toot-toot)!"

You'll have to trust me; the lyrics are ten times more hilarious when being sung by Popeye, as he encourages everybody to follow the "bouncing ball" and sing along with him. This is the first Popeye cartoon that I've seen in years, and I've been assured that his films can only go uphill from here. Director Dave Fleischer must surely have had the best of intentions when he threw together this two-minute sing-along, presumably to precede a children's feature-film. If I close my eyes and think really hard, I can almost imagine a cinema-full of people chanting the words with gusto. Hell, even I decided to dispense with my dignity and sing-along with Popeye, that bouncing ball proving too irresistible to ignore. But the fact remains, this film is totally lame.

'Let's Sing with Popeye (1934)' appears to have been produced so cheaply that I wouldn't be surprised if it was tossed together from the deleted scenes of previous Popeye cartoons. There's some interest in the first minute or so, as Popeye rampages around his ship, sings about his strength and thoughtlessly tears his nautical equipment to bits, but the entire second half is just words against a black background (oh, and a bouncing ball!). For camp value, I suppose that this cartoon is worthing checking out, and the two minute running time makes the film forgiving enough, but comparing this hack-job to a Disney "Silly Symphony" of the same year just makes me want to laugh.