Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves

I love Fleischer's take on Popeye the Sailor better than all the other versions of the character. This cartoon and "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" are favorites from Popeye's colorful "Arabian Nights" trilogy.

I enjoy the desert scene in which Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Wimpy walk through the sand. Wimpy's mirage of a feast and the "tank roll" scene are also highlights for me. I also love the scene at the cafe when Popeye snatches Abu Hassen/Bluto's underwear off him without removing his clothes. One final moment that I enjoy is when Olive kisses Popeye while pacing back and forth on the pier while on duty.

The song of Abu Hassan and his 40 thieves is the axis of this charming short adaptation of classic story, great for the humor, fight scenes and for the admirable Wimpy serving in exemplary manner his interest. So, an admirable short film, remembering the emotions of childhood and giving a precious gift of adventures and songs and humor and wise use of cliches.

For those who hasn't see Popeye meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves digitally remastered on DVD, you're in for a revelation! I'm so happy that Warner Bros. got rid of the dreadful A.A.P. opening and closing titles of all Fleischer Popeye cartoon movies and put back the original Paramount titles where it belongs.

I love the cartoon. Especially Abu Hassan (Bluto) and his boys singing that catchy tune back in 1937 which is still timeless to this day. Can't stop singing! It's now available either can buy or rent it as part of the Popeye collection (1933 - 1938) available exclusively from Warner Home Video.

A POPEYE Cartoon.

After crashing his plane in the Sahara, POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS ALI BABA'S FORTY THIEVES when brigand Abu Hassan loots the desert village where the old spinach muncher has found respite. With Olive Oyl captured as a slave for the Thieves, it's time for our hero to come to the rescue...

This was the second in a series of 3 excellent two-reel cartoons, created by Max Fleischer, in which Popeye & his friends are interpolated into the classic stories of The Arabian Nights. They feature great animation - notice the fascinating 3-D backgrounds - and taut, fast-moving plots. Meant to be shown in movie theaters, they are miles ahead of their Saturday Morning counterparts. Jack Mercer is the voice of Popeye; Mae Questel does the honors for Olive Oyl.

Max Fleischer is the man responsible for the blossoming American animation film industry and he inspired the likes of Walt Disney, Walter Lantz and even Leon Schlesinger. Popeye became the most popular short-film series in the United States when Fleischer bought the film rights to the character, thus resulting in classics like 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves' and so forth.

These early Popeye shorts employed what is commonly referred to as 'rubber hose animation' where the characters lacked any specific points of articulation making their arms and legs look 'bendy'. I love these shorts because of the surreal charm they still have eighty years on. They're not trying to pretend that its animation is perfect, they just want to entertain the audience with its fast-paced and ridiculous animation.

I really do like these cartoons' they're lovely time capsules in spite some of the inherent racism that was unfortunately prominent in the 30s. With that said, these cartoons were never made with the intent of offending anyone through any inappropriate characters, they were just products of the time which we can thankfully look beyond now.

Popeye is still a beloved cartoon icon around the world and for good reason; he made the United States and the world happier during the Great Depression, and for that he's become a real superhero in his own right.