the audience applauded

Fantastic!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Ever since his debut in newspaper comics in 1929, and his debut in animation in 1933, Popeye the sailor has become a household name for his aggressive albeit hysterical attitude and tough natured charm. So in 1936, Max Fleischer and his studio decided to take a bold leap with the spinach packing sailor and create a cartoon longer than 10 minutes. The result was Popeye Meets Sindbad the Sailor, an Oscar nominated classic animated short that was even included at # 17 on Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. I myself grew up with this short on a public domain vhs, so the quality was rather sub par, but seeing the cartoon in its restored and remastered glory makes it way more of a treat than before.The basic storyline is that Popeye must rescue his girlfriend Olive Oyl from the notorious Sindbad on his island of ferocious creatures. Pretty standard as far as a Popeye cartoon goes, but what elevates it from being your typical Popeye venture is how epic and grand it is. The setting of Sinbad's island is marvelous, complete with the Fleischer's legendary stereotypical backgrounds that create a lot of depth and dimensions, and one can definitely tell how much effort and care was put into crafting the island. The creatures themselves, whether it'd be lions, dragons, or even giants, are frightening but intriguing to watch, mainly by what predicaments Popeye ends up in with each animal. In particular, the roc is so majestic in terms of design and size that it's hard not to feel timid around the beast, especially when it takes off to fly (what a tremendously epic scene).In addition to how magnificent the island is, the music is utterly fantastic. Most of the score consists of suspenseful tracks that play whenever Popeye is in danger. The scores help accompany the already monumental and thrilling scenes to give them that extra flavor of tension. Not only that, but despite only one musical number playing afloat, Who's the Most Phenomenal Extraordinary Fellow is incredibly catching, and helps establish both the courageous character of Sindbad and his accomplishments overseas, with some humorous lyrics sprinkled throughout. Adding into that, Gus Wickie does a great job performing the speaking and singing voice of Sindbad, elevating his aggressive presence and pompous ego to new heights. Speaking of the voices, Jack Mercer, the longest running and most iconic voice of Popeye, performs the usual vigorous albeit humorous charismatic voice we've come to know and love, complete with witty ad libs, and Mae Questel carries through on making Olive truly sound like the damsel in distress without coming off as annoying. Needless to say, Popeye Meets Sindbad contains enough grand animation, tense music, and amusing voices to present sixteen minutes of pure thrilling entertainment. Whether you're a big fan of Popeye the sailor or not, check this cartoon out and have the time of your life. And just remember, there's only room for one brave sailor in this world, and I'm sure you know who that is.

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?

Of course, most of the Fleischer Popeye cartoons were pretty much the same. In this one, a setting is created where Bluto can hold forth as Sindbad the Sailor. He is the master of a bunch of creatures from the Arabian Nights mythology, lions, the Roc, a fire breathing dragon, and some others. Of course, sometimes lust gets you in trouble. When he spots Olive Oyl, he can't resist her. If he had not intervened, he would have been fine. But, then, it wouldn't be a Popeye cartoon. One of the odd sidelights is Wimpy, chasing a duck with a meat grinder (the duck had stolen his last hamburger). There are a host of special punches used by our sailor. Anyway, lot's of interesting characters for us to enjoy.

This cartoon from almost 80 years ago is a work of superlatives. It is among the most famous, most successful and longest cartoons from the entire Popeye franchise and that is quite an achievement looking at how long and enduring this one was for over 20 years in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. And maybe this one here is even number 1 in these categories I listed. However, it was not number 1 at the Academy Award as it lost to the Disney entry that year, but a nomination is a success already too.I personally would say that this is a very competent work. The voice actors all had strong careers and there is nothing I need to say about Dave Fleischer I guess. It's an earlier Popeye film and the characters are the same as usual. The action is not that different either. Olive gets abducted by Bluto (Sinbad) and Popeye has to save her. When all hope is lost, he gets out the spinach and finishes his enemy. One difference here is that the first almost five minutes were entirely about his antagonist. Actually, this was mostly because they had to fill the really long runtime for cartoons back then, but it also served as nice preparation for their duel. Before Popeye fights Sinbad at the end and proves who the greatest sailor is, he has to take care of some of the villain's henchman. Not too common either. So there are definitely some differences compared to all the other Popeye short films. I enjoyed this watch. There was nothing truly great about it, but it was pretty entertaining, had good animation and seeing all the animals was nice as well. Recommended.