Popeye the Sailor (1933) User Reviews

From Comic Strip To The Big Screen

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 3 September 2007]

Wow, it's interesting to see how different this first Popeye cartoon was from all the others we are used to seeing. Right off the in the introduction, other - not Popeye - is singing a "Strike Up the Band" song. Actually, we find out it's a "Betty Boop" as Betty joins in the singing, with a similar lyric about it "being a cinch that every inch he's a sailor."

Popeye came from the comic strips, so the first thing we see when the story begins in a newspaper headline reading, "Popeye A Movie Star," meaning the audience will now see him at the movie theater. (There was no television back then.)

Anyway, just watching the first few minutes of this cartoon produced a big smile on my face. It's tough to beat these clever, funny 1930s Popeye cartoons. The combination of sight gags and music - they loved music in cartoons and movies back in the '30s - is guaranteed to make you feel good after watching.

Popeye demonstrates his strength, dexterity and resourcefulness in his screen debut and it's quickly established Bluto is the enemy and wants Olive. That storyline went on for decades but was always fun to see as the sailor man bested the bearded bully time after time.

Betty only has a small number in here, so even if the cartoon is under name, it's really Popeye's. Betty does a quick Hawaiian dance which she did in several other cartoons before they made her put more clothes on by the end of 1934.

The only thing different was Bonnie Poe doing some voice work as Olive. Her voice was a lot lower than Mae Questel's who did Olive for most, if not all, of the other cartoons. Mae also did Betty Boop, and my guess is they didn't want the same voice for both characters in the same cartoon.

Also, Popeye's answer to everything was a punch, destroying whatever he hit....even a train! He's always ready to show his stuff, but a little more so than normal in this debut cartoon. This guy was punching everybody and everything, and so was Olive! In later cartoons, Popeye entertained us more with his clever remarks and reinventing of words. However, you can see from this early cartoon that it's no surprise this comic strip character made it big "in the movies."

Popeye the Sailor debuts

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 30 November 2016]

'Popeye the Sailor' is a good debut for Popeye, but there have been better cartoons of his since.

There is not much wrong with it. There is a finding its feet/style feel, and there is a preference to the voice actors who would take on the roles later. Popeye and Bluto were fine courtesy of William Costello and William Pennell, but Bonnie Poe's voice agreed (from personal opinion this is) doesn't really fit Olive Oyl, and it was strange hearing a deeper voice when so used to Mae Questel's pretty iconic interpretation.

On the other hand, the animation is beautifully drawn, smooth and meticulously detailed, the black and white crisply shaded. The music is merry and energetic, though again am more familiar with the scoring of Winston Sharples later.

It's a very entertaining cartoon and smartly written, with a lot of charm and energy. All three lead characters are engaging and their personalities established well even for so early on. Betty Boop makes a small but memorable appearance, that's both sexy and cute.

All in all, a very good debut cartoon but not among my favourite Popeye cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The Foist

[boblipton · 7/10 · 9 July 2023]

The first Popeye motion picture cartoon was presented as a Betty Boop movie for marketing purposes. It quickly establishes most of the tropes that would sustain the series for the next two dozen years: he sings his song, he and Bluto fight over Olive Oyl, Popeye defeats Bluto by eating spinach, and there's a surfeit of gags in the Fleischer style, both big and little, enough to make it easily watchable many times. True, the character design is unsophisticated, with the characters' designs ornamented on basic shapes, but it's a great start to what would quickly become the Fleischers' best-known franchise.

Betty Boop makes an appearance as a hula dancer, her bosom concealed solely by a lei. Ah, for those pre-code cartoons!

The first Popeye cartoon.

[edrury · 10/10 · 29 January 2005]

The first Popeye cartoon ever, although it was marketed as a Betty Boop cartoon. It was also the first in a series of cartoons where Betty Boop met various characters from newspaper comics (Such as The Little King) in animated form. Naturally, Popeye was the only one who the Fleischer Brothers got any mileage out of.

Very entertaining, like all the early Popeye's. Betty Boop makes only a small cameo, but it's hard to miss. Try to get the black and white version, since the colorized version, I dunno. It just seems to take away some of the excitement.

4/4

Fleischer's Popeye the Sailor is great animated start for Elzie Segar's comic strip character

[tavm · 10/10 · 2 September 2006]

The Popeye character we know and love is already intact in this, his first animated appearance on film. So is Olive Oyl and Bluto. Betty Boop is also in this, in fact, she was put on in order to attract filmgoers already familiar with her but not with Elzie Segar's popular newspaper strip. It's already known that William Costello was the first voice of Popeye but very few know that a woman named Bonnie Poe was the first voice of Olive, in fact when I first saw this cartoon I already noticed how different she sounded from Ms. Oyl's usual voice! Since she was also Betty Boop, Mae Questal probably didn't want to do two voices in the same cartoon or maybe the public would be confused since they both sound the same anyway! Before Jackson Beck, William Pennell did Bluto, though I really can't tell the difference here. Fleischer-type gags abound throughout and, yes, we have the now-famous Popeye theme song and spinach finale introduced here. Well worth seeing for Popeye and animation fans.

Great Start

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

Popeye the Sailor (1933)

**** (out of 4)

First film in the series of shorts was also the first I've seen of any of these early films. I watched some of the later ones when I was a kid and I wasn't sure what to expect out of these theatrical shorts but this first one was great. Popeye takes Olive Oyl to a fair when Bluto shows up to start trouble. There's a lot of great humor here and I really loved the animation style. The opening scene of Popeye singing his famous song is priceless as is the appearance by Betty Boop.

Now available through Warner in a 4-disc box set.

POPEYE THE SAILOR {Short} (Dave Fleischer and, uncredited, Seymour Kneitel, 1933) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 11 January 2014]

Despite a brief (semi-nude!) appearance by Betty Boop as an exotic dancer at a fair, this cartoon by the Fleischer brothers introduced us to the popular figures of Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto – who would naturally take off in a long-running series of their own and basically eclipsed the career of the studio's afore-mentioned star attraction! It is interesting to note, at this juncture, that the essence – with respect to characterization, gag type and plot structure (not to mention, the equally iconic theme tune!) – was there from the outset. That said, while I admit to having sat through many of these during my childhood, much like the live-action stuff of The Three Stooges which yours truly sampled again a few years back (let alone their strictly kiddie-oriented animated fare!), I seem to have irrevocably outgrown this particular brand of comedy and now approach it with an inevitable measured step

What a difference a century makes...

[A_Different_Drummer · 10/10 · 23 November 2013]

In his day Dave Fleischer was the best of the best when it came to animation. The Nicola Tesla of cartoons if you like. (No, younger readers, that does not mean he made CARS). Some of the other reviewers nailed it when they pointed out, with props to both men, that, frame by frame Fleischer was better than Disney. (Of course, a century later, more or less, we see that Disney was the better businessman, which is why your kids aren't bugging you for a vacation to FleischerLand). The animation, the cell work, was astonishing. The concepts were astonishing. The blending of music and action were astonishing. Believe it or not, late in his career Fleischer experimented with a strange kind of "3D animation" (intended of course for 2D projection on theatre screens SINCE TV HAD NOT EVEN BEEN INVENTED.) And a decade after this film, he did a Superman cartoon which, as other reviewers on IMDb have acknowledged, was decades ahead of its time, and holds up well even for viewing today. Wow. What an artist.

Well then...

[Mightyzebra · 7/10 · 31 August 2009]

Usually in old cartoons in which a cartoon character as a debut do not have the character on for very long, or they do not make a big thing of the character's personality. Here, unusually, Popeye and Olive Oyl, in their first episode, seem to already be very developed characters (almost definitely because of the comics). It was my first official time to watch a Popeye cartoon. I quite enjoyed it, but Popeye and Olive Oyl are not yet my favourite cartoon characters.

Things I enjoyed about this episode were the great introduction of Popeye "the sailor-man" and his gal, Olive Oyl. I also liked the quick appearance of Betty Boop, the old style of the cartoon which was around in those days (in Fleisher, Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons), the basic plot-line and the fact that spinach works quicker for Popeye than drugs do on normal people. Go spinach! :-) Basically, in "Popeye the Sailor", we are introduced to Popeye as a strong sailor, on a boat, who likes his spinach. Then we meet Olive Oyl, in a quay, waiting for her love (Popeye) to arrive off the boat. While she is waiting a number of sailors eye her (as she is attractive to them). She punches them and they move away, except for one huge sailor who is not hurt by her kicks. Just then, Popeye comes along and takes her to the funfair, where the horrible sailor follows them...

I am not sure whether this was aimed for children at the time, not all cartoons were, but if it was it is not exactly suitable for kids in this day and age. This is because the horrible sailor tries to seduce Olive Oyl a little and yet does truly horrible things to her. It does not seem so bad partly because it is in a cartoon.

I recommend this to people who are interested in Popeye, to people who like old cartoons and to people who like cartoons with quite a lot of singing (yes, sorry, I forgot to mention this). Enjoy "Popeye the Sailor"! :-) 7 and a half out of ten.

Great stuff...aside from the carnival's ball tossing scene

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 14 September 2009]

While I have never been a huge fan of Popeye because the cartoons are so darn repetitive, this very first Popeye is well worth seeing--for historical reasons, because it was significantly better than the efforts of most other studios (which tended towards cutesy singing cartoons) and because it was so original at that time. However, the Fleischer Studios was a bit hesitant to just toss Popeye out there and hope that people will like him. Instead, they billed this as a Betty Boop cartoon on the title screen. Additionally, Betty makes a short but risqué appearance mid-way through the film--sort of like she was giving her seal of approval to the series.

One big difference between this and most of the later Popeye cartoons is with Olive Oyl. Her voice was not provided by the usual Mae Questel (also the voice of Betty Boop). Olive's horribly annoying voice is not so annoying and Bonnie Poe's voice is noticeably deeper and less migraine-inducing! Aside from that, the cartoon is pretty much like any of the early Popeyes. The art work is the usual beautifully detailed black & white Fleischer animation that you can't help but respect. Bluto and Popeye do their usual routines, though Popeye does seem a bit more macho without his spinach than later films and so the difference that the spinach makes is less notable. Also, notice the final scene where our hero saves Olive--and possibly kills a train load of innocent people in the process!

One sad thing in the film many won't notice is the carnival bit where Popeye and the rest are throwing balls at a guy's head. Such ball throwing booths were common back then and involved throwing baseballs at a Black man's face! While the guy in the cartoon is pretty cartoony, he is Black skinned and this is a sick little aspect of the 1930s that has been forgotten--and that probably isn't a bad thing at all.

Ambivalence hangs over enjoying this series

[mozli · 6/10 · 5 October 2008]

I'll start off by saying what incredible artisans and crafts-persons Fleischer, Segar and Co. were. They achieve a type of brilliance that even Disney(during that period)doesn't quite match. Now, that said I seriously doubt I would allow children to watch it even though I did. Its just too violent and the consequences of the extreme nature of it is played for laughs. Popeye's world in the cartoon is an impoverished one and its heavily suggested that the violence is a necessary part of that environment. I see it as part of life during an economic depression. Everything is heightened, gender roles, racial stereotypes and a sense that the rug has been pulled out from under all the characters(they change jobs a lot). Spinach takes on a weird quality and I thought about street drugs being the actual little helper that Popeye may be using. PCP anyone? Sherms? Crack? Crank?

Great one!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 14 July 2005]

When this show was on I watched it every time I could! I thought that the characters were really funny and all had great personalities. The animation in My opinion was crisp, clean, and really clear. Not to mention beautiful! Most of the characters in this show are hilarious like Looney Tunes characters that we all love. in My opinion these characters are the funnies and talented ever seen. In fact, The things that goes on in this series' cartoons are in My opinion nuts which that is what makes them hilarious! There are so many to like and laugh at and the silly things they do! If you like the original Looney Tunes then I strongly recommend that you watch this show!

He's Strong To The Finich 'Cause He Eats His Spinach!

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 26 April 2020]

Popeye the Sailor-man is definitely one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters, bar none. He was originally created as a comic-strip personality back in 1929 by American cartoonist, Elzie Segar (1894-1938).

In this 1933 animated short, good, old Popeye makes his historical screen debut in a Betty Boop cartoon where he, of course, steals the show demonstrating his amazing feats of strength. But, with that said - He, unfortunately, has very little interaction time with cutie-pie, Betty Boop at all.

This very first "Popeye" cartoon (and the ones that subsequently followed throughout the 1930s) were all produced at the (Max) Fleischer Studios.

Popeye the Sailor-man was originally voiced by William Costello (1898-1971).

(Flawed) Birth of a legend

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 23 October 2015]

"Popeye the Sailor" is a black-and-white cartoon from over 80 years ago made by the legendary Fleischer brothers. If you know a bit about Popeye, you will find the usual ingredient in here. It runs for roughly 7.5-minutes like most other cartoons from that era, features the title character with his spinach and Olive and Bluto are included already as well. Olive is pretty rough when other sailors try to make a move on her as all she wants is Popeye. Unfortunately, I must say that this little movie did not really impress me. I have seen other Popeye short films that were a lot better, for example the very famous Popeye vs Sindbad cartoon. None of the action in here (nor the inclusion of Betty Boop promoting Popeye), or the animation, felt truly witty or memorable and that is why I will not recommend it.

Pure Sex

[tedg · 13 July 2004]

Spoilers herein.

Popeye's first cartoon after he matured on the comics page. I believe the Fleischer cartoons may be the best of the era. Where other pioneers were working with characters abstracted especially for the screen, the Fleischers gave life to `real' characters.

Betty Boop until 1934 - when regulatory prudes stripped her of her magic - was an amazing invention: sexy, somewhat dumb. But the important thing was the flapper persona.

By 33, the Fleischers bought the rights to Popeye and this is the first appearance on screen. His dumb but endearing masculinity is a perfect match for Betty's similar femininity. She only appears in a cameo here, except the voice of Olive is very similar (and done by the same person). Betty was retired in 39, to be replaced by the unplucky, unsexy Olive.

The world of film stereotypes would never be the same. The death of the Clara Bow type begins with this short.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Hitting The Ground Running Full Out; Even With Those Famous POPEYE BOW LEGS!

[redryan64 · 8/10 · 26 August 2008]

ALWAYS on the lookout for new material and fresh "faces" to bring to their animated films, the Brothers Fleischer, Max and Dave, had apparently struck some sort of deal with Hearst's King Features Syndicate to bring some of their humorous comic strips to the screen.* Consequently we saw the likes of 'HENRY' by Carl Anderson, 'THE LITTLE KING' by Otto Soglow and the runaway hit character from E.Z. Segar's THIMBLE THEATER Comic Strip, POPEYE.

RECIPROCALLY perhaps, King Features distributed a BETTY BOOP Comic Strip in the 1930s; which was credited to Max Fleischer, but most likely was ghosted by others.

EXPERIMENTATION with the newspaper strips was limited to these three; but only the only one to come around to the full fruition** for the Fleischer Brothers, Paramount Pictures Corporation and We, the People, was the gruff, squinty-eyed, bow-legged, nearly bald, red-headed, ham fisted scrapper of a seaman, Popeye, Himself. *** THE first cartoon, titled POPEYE THE SAILOR (Fleischer Studios/Paramount Pictures, 1933), was officially part of the BETTY BOOP Series; although Miss Betty graciously defers to the Spinach Man, taking a supporting, almost cameo, sort of a part as a Hula Dancing Girl at the carnival, which was the setting for the story.

AMAZINGLY, this initial outing seemingly contained all of the basic elements that were Popeye stuff, right from the start. It was almost as if it was a sort of genetic code for cinematic productions; with all that would come later over the next 6 decades being present in primitive form in the very first outing.

OUR STORY: Popeye meets up with Olive Oyl (they're obviously already 'goin' steady.') as he disembarks his ship for some much needed shore leave. Bluto shows up to provide some rivalry and the means of providing some fisticuffs. Miss Boop as we said before, comes in well into the second half of the picture; but manages to get in some really neat hoofing with Popeye, both being products of the Fleischers' Patented Rotoscope Process.****

REALLY, Schultz, that's about it; of course it's all embellished with plenty of those famous sight-gags, for which Director Dave Fleischer had become so well known.

NONE of the other cast of Mr. Segar's characters from the strip make an appearance. There's no Roughhouse, no Wimpy, no Swea' Pea. Missing in action are Castor Oyl (Olive's brother), Sea Hag, Poop Deck Pappy and Eugene, the Jeep. However, they would all be highly visible in future cartoons, coming series in Popeye's venerable and prolific cinematic output.

THE cast of voice actors was a little different than what we later would become used to. Popeye and Olive were rendered by William Costello and Bonnie Poe. Mae Questel was there, but did her usual Betty Boop; but not Olive, yet. Jack Mercer hadn't signed on as Popeye until some time later; although we did view a print of this cartoon that apparently had been re-dubbed with Mr. Mercer's unmistakable rendition of the Sailor Man's golden tones.

BIZARRE is the only way that to describe many of the supporting characters; be they part of a carnival crowd or one of Popeye's co-worker sailors taking their shore leave. It seemed to be out of place (at least to this writer) to have the being anthropomorphic funny animals. Whereas this , we're certain, had been a common practice in the BETTY BOOP world, no POPEYE picture ever would repeat its use; opting for adherence to the principle of depicting only humans (and Parrots) as talkers.

NOTE: * King Features' adventure strip properties such as TIM TYLER'S LUCK, JUNGLE JIM and FLASH GORDON were adapted to the screen by Universal Pictures as Cliff-Hanging Serials.

NOTE: ** Oddly enough, the one cartoon "Star" Fleischer Studios had copyright on was Miss BETTY BOOP, herself. Their two most successful series were the All Color SUPERMAN Cartoons of the 1940's (owned by D.C./National Comics) and our guy, POPEYE (Hearst's King Features Syndicate).

NOTE: *** Yeah, Schultz, just the same as yours truly, Popeye is a Red Head, poor guy!

NOTE: **** The ROTOSCOPE is an animation production device of MAX & DAVE FLEISCHER'S which is used to make realistic animated movement by allowing animators to trace individual frames of film of live action persons and animals even.

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

The One, The Only

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 6 January 2016]

This is the first Popeye cartoon. He had appeared in newspaper comic strips. At the beginning we get to hear the entire version of his theme song as he disintegrates various items of property. While impressive, he is really pretty destructive. Of course, Bluto shows up and he has to deal with him. At no point does the big guy seem to have a chance. Of course, he can't leave Olive Oyl alone and Popeye saves her several times. Mostly, they show off at the carnival where Bluto does something well and Popeye does him one better. Betty Boop makes and appearance as a hula girl and Popeye gets on stage and copies her dancing. Eventually, Bluto ties Oliive to a railroad track (original!) and this forces the use of spinach, that performance enhancing drug. This is really a nice introduction to the Popeye oeuvre.

"Popeye's a Movie Star!"

[ja_kitty_71 · 9/10 · 2 December 2009]

I had always wondered when Popeye started his animated career, until I've watched this cartoon online. I found out that this short was intended as a test cartoon to see if Popeye could work as an animated character. He was originally a character from a comic strip by a guy named E. C. Segar. This cartoon combines my two favorite cartoon characters coming together - Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor. Even though Betty's appearance is more of a cameo than a full-time character in this cartoon. And also, this cartoon is really part of the Betty Boop series.

The only thing that bothers me about this cartoon, is Olive Oyl's voice; I really didn't like it. I really prefer Mae Questel's take on Olive, but I got to bear with what they got. My favorite scene is when Betty and Popeye do the hula on stage.

Parents saw little need to tell their kids about the . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 17 July 2019]

. . . "birds and the bees" during the early 1930s: They could simply expose these young whippersnappers to "Fleischer" cartoons, such as POPEYE THE SAILOR. This animated short crams nearly every bit of carnal knowledge charted by man into a running time well under ten minutes. Take the infamous dance scene of POPEYE THE SAILOR, in which some salacious topless chick called "Betty" writhes to erotic music on a carnie stage. Despite having his date "Olive" hanging on his arm, "Popeye" inexplicably bolts on stage to join Betty's exhibition, yanking "Madame Hari" the Bearded Lady's fuzz off to simulate Betty's hula skirt, as a large portrait of a similarly bare-breasted "Cleopatra" the Snake Lady looms over his shoulder. POPEYE THE SAILOR's producers, of course, use "Madame Hari" to evoke the notorious exotic-dancing German WWI spy, Mata Hari, infamously stripped to her waist by a French firing squad. (Legend has it that Betty and Mata were equally bereft of the stuff from which dreams are made!)

Introducing Popeye

[shelbythuylinh · 10/10 · 15 December 2021]

As that he was not meant to be a main character in the Thimble Theater but he later became the breakout star of in the comics and gotten his own cartoon and TV shows among them.

And that he and Bluto the main nemesis of the Popeye cartoons eye over in the attention of Olive Oyl the damsel in distress in these cartoons there, Of course Popeye keeps rescuing her including tied to train tracks.

A great future ahead there for the Spinach loving sailor.

great debut of Popeye

[SnoopyStyle · 9/10 · 10 July 2023]

The newpaper proclaims that Popeye gets a movie contract. Popeye is socking everything and singing his song. The crew gets shore leave. Olive Oyl is waiting for Popeye, but everybody including Bluto is making a pass. Popeye takes Olive to the carnival. They followed by Bluto who bullies everybody. Finally, he ties Olive to the train tracks.

Popeye makes his film debut in a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon. Betty Boop only makes a small cameo dancing a too-sexy Hula dance with a grass skirt and Lei. It's the classic Popeye trio doing the classic story. This has all the basic Popeye material and a great debut of an icon.

Popeye's Movie Debut

[springfieldrental · 9/10 · 26 January 2023]

The pipe-smoking naval salty dog can indirectly thank newspaper-chain mogul William Randolph Hearst for his existence in his animated cartoon debut, July 1933 "Popeye the Sailor." Hearst asked comic strip artist E. C. Segar back in 1919 to draw up a new series for his New York Journal and King Features papers. Segar introduced 'Thimble Theatre,' with Olive Oyl as a tall, skinny flapper. Ten years later, he first drew a sailor called Popeye, and soon Olive and he became an item in Segar's comic strip.

Animated cartoon producer Max Fleischer purchased the film rights to Popeye and released into the theaters the first of 231 cartoons of the pipe-chomping man in "Popeye the Sailor." Fleischer insured Popeye's popularity by having it part of his Betty Boop Cartoon series, the studio's big star attraction. Betty has a cameo as a hula dancer in a carnival show. Bluto, Popeye's arch-nemesis who appeared only once in 'Thimble Theatres,' also made his screen debut in "Popeye the Sailor."

Spinach as a fortifying strength food took a more prominent role in the animated Popeye cartoons than in the comic strip. The sailor man eats the vegetable towards the end of almost every cartoon. Spinach sales gained over 30% in 1934 alone as Popeye became more popular. The animated Popeye cartoons adopted the comic strip's violence, a trait Hearst had asked Segar to tone down years earlier because the strip's main readers were children. The artist didn't, telling the publisher there was 'nothing funny about a sissy sailor."

Segar patterned Popeye's appearance after French boxer 'Rocky' Fiegel, and paid him a small fee for his caricature. Actor William Costello, known as 'Red Pepper Sam,' was the first voice of Popeye, who spoke in a raspy delivery. He did the first 24 Popeye shorts, ending in 1935 with 'You Gotta Be a Football Hero." Costello's strike for a raise had the Fleischers steaming when he took days off in the middle of recording sessions. He was eventually shown the exit door. The catchy "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" theme song was written spontaneously by Sammy Lerner in a couple of hours just to show studio co-owner Dave Fleischer how a tune could be used to complement the cartoon. Fleischer loved the song so much he paid Lerner to use it.

he's popeye the sailor man!!!

[ThunderKing6 · 10/10 · 20 October 2020]

Popeye is a cartoon legend. One fo the first popular faces if television. Popeye taught us that eating spinach makes us strong.

Its unfair that Popeye has taken the back seat in pop-culture. I do sure hope if they plan to revive the legend. DON'T MAKE IT CORNY OR CRINGy tv/movie.

Verdict: Eat yo spinach.