She-Sick Sailors

Olive Oyl is reading her Superman comic books and pines for her own superdooper superhero. Popeye can't understand her obsession. Bluto breaks in dressed in a Superman costume and promptly wins her over.

This is a colored Popeye cartoon short. It's interesting that it is talking about Superman. I like it until they bring in the tommy gun. Bluto shooting Popeye is just a brutal scene. The glee in his face is too much. It turns this from being fun to being disturbing. The rest is perfectly fine including the bulletproof spinach.

Olive is enamored with Superman comic books and with the character himself. When Bluto realizes this, he disguised himself as the superhero. He goes about demolishing Popeye to show Olive his superiority and to "get the girl." We all know how this will end. One interesting aspect of Popeye cartoons is the collateral damage. Every encounter means building, trains, planes, trees, you name it, are destroyed. Slightly above average Popeye feature.

"She-Sick Sailors" (1944) opens with shots of Olive Oyl reading Superman comics and swooning over the superhero's image. Popeye comes by for a visit and Olive puts him off for interrupting her comic book reading. Bluto happens by and overhears Olive pining for Superman, so he bursts onto the scene, newly clean-shaven, in a Superman costume. When Popeye protests, Bluto promptly throws Olive out the high-rise window and challenges Popeye to rescue her. Bluto has his own rescue plan, though, and he and Olive laugh at Popeye's failed attempt. So it goes, Bluto battles Popeye over Olive's affections until Popeye gets a burst of super power in his own time-honored fashion and shows Olive who the real superhero is. There are a few good gags on Bluto's part, including the ingenious way he uses a commuter train to "prove" his super-strength, but for a cartoon match between Popeye and "Superman," there should have been a little more effort made throughout. The story is credited to Bill Turner and animation pioneer Otto Messmer, who was recognized late in life as the genius behind the silent-era Felix the Cat. (Check out John Canemaker's documentary, "Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat.")

The depiction of Superman in the comic book Olive reads is quite unusual. The images certainly match what we know of the Superman comics of the era, but the dialogue balloon we see has Superman say, "Now to foil the dastardly curs and rescue the fair damsel," an odd and archaic turn of phrase to put into Superman's mouth, but one presumably guaranteed to appeal to Olive. Interestingly, when Bluto first appears as Superman in Olive's apartment, his blue costume has a red "S" on the front. When he leaves the apartment, and in all subsequent scenes, the "S" is gone. Curiously, in the opening credits, there is no mention of Superman or any acknowledgment of the rights owner. This cartoon was made a year or so after the last theatrical Superman cartoon short, "Secret Agent" (also reviewed on this site), was made by Paramount/Famous Studios, which also produced this cartoon. It's doubtful the studio still held the rights a year later to use the character in a cartoon. Even the Superman cartoons they made carried an acknowledgment: "By arrangement with Action Comics and Superman magazines/Superman comic strip created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster." I would think some mention would have been required in this case also.

Really like to love a vast majority of Popeye's cartoons and the character himself. Fleischer's Popeye cartoons though tended to be funnier, more imaginative and better made, Famous Studios' on the most part entertained though their later Popeye, and overall filmography actually, cartoons had tighter deadlines and lower budgets evident which accounted for the animation not being as good, less surprises and the material not as imaginative.

'She-Sick Sailors' is not Popeye at his best, while not the greatest of representations of him it hardly disgraces him either. It is still enjoyable stuff and there are a lot of great things, just felt that something was missing. As far as the second world war-period Popeye cartoons go, 'She-Sick Sailors' is somewhere towards the top. Thankfully it does not make the mistake of being heavy-handed or have any stereotypes that are not for the easily offended. It is a creative premise and there are some imaginative moments, actually think there could have been more.

It is not much special in the story department, it is very thin (not uncommon with Popeye) and it is not hard to figure out the outcome as it does, despite some creative touches, follow the Popeye formula. That may not be a problem for some, but for others they wouldn't say no to more imagination and a change of pace. Am neutral on this myself.

Olive's material is not as strong as Popeye's or Bluto's and she doesn't have not near as much to do.

Anybody however who loves great animation and music, characters at the top of their game with more than convincing chemistry and comic timing that is at least good will, or at least should, get a kick out of 'She-Sick Sailors', regardless of the state of the story. All of that is here. Luckily there is enough variety to stop too much repetition creeping in and the energy is always there.

Expectedly, the backgrounds have lost none of the meticulous attention to detail, it's fluid, Popeye still looks good and is recognisable in design and the colours are wonderfully vibrant, which really does make the setting come alive. Love the music just as much, it is the highly characterful and lush music score, that fits seamlessly and enhances the action. Popeye is amusing and likeable still and Jack Mercer doesn't disappoint with the voice acting. Bluto is even funnier and the chemistry between the two sparkles and carries the cartoon brilliantly. The gags are plentiful enough, beautifully timed and make good use of the premise. While few are hilarious they are always amusing, the commuter train part is agreed ingenious (one of Bluto's funniest individual gags from personal view).

Popeye's asides and mumblings are something of a hilarious art-form of its own, and the energy never wavers. Mercer is not the only one to excel at the voice acting. Cannot imagine anybody else voicing Olive than Mae Questel, the voice actress to voice her the most (she was also voiced in some cartoons by Bonnie Poe and Margie Hines and it wasn't the same). Jackson Beck is very exuberant as Bluto.

To conclude, very enjoyable. 8/10