Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor

Infobox Hollywood cartoon
cartoon_name = Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
series = Popeye Color Feature


caption = A scene from "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor".
director = Dave Fleischer
animator = Willard Bowsky
George Germanetti
Edward Nolan
voice_actor = Jack Mercer
Mae Questel
Gus Wickie
musician = Sammy Timberg
Sammy Lerner
Bob Rothberg
producer = Max Fleischer
studio = Fleischer Studios
distributor = Paramount Pictures
release_date = November 27 1936
color_process = Technicolor
runtime = 16 min (two reels)
preceded_by = "The Spinach Roadster"
followed_by = "I'm in the Army Now"
movie_language = English
imdb_id = 0028119

"Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the "Popeye Color Feature" series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 27 1936 by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc. and directed by Dave Fleischer, with musical supervision by Sammy Timberg. The voice of Popeye is performed by Jack Mercer, with Mae Questel as Olive Oyl and Gus Wickie as Sindbad the Sailor.

Plot

In this short, Sindbad the Sailor (modeled after Bluto) proclaims himself the greatest sailor in the world and "the most remarkable, extraordinary fellow," a claim which is challenged by Popeye's arrival on his island with Olive Oyl and J. Wellington Wimpy in tow. Sindbad orders his huge Roc, Rokh, to kidnap Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl, and challenges the one-eyed sailor to a series of obstacles to prove his greatness, including fighting Rokh, a two-headed giant named Boola, and Sindbad himself. Popeye makes short work of the bird and the giant, but Sindbad almost gets the best of him until Popeye produces his can of spinach, which gives him the power to soundly defeat Sindbad and proclaim himself "the most remarkable, extraordinary fella."

A subtly dark running gag features Wimpy chasing after a duck on the island with a meat grinder, intending to grind the duck's flesh so that he can fry it into a hamburger. Many of the scenes in this short feature use of the Fleischer's Tabletop process, which used modeled sets to create 3D backgrounds for the cartoon.

Release and reception

This short was the first of the three "Popeye" Color Specials, which were, at over sixteen minutes each, three times as long as a regular "Popeye" cartoon, and were often billed in theatres alongside or above the main feature. "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" was nominated for the 1936 , which it lost to Walt Disney's "Silly Symphony" "The Country Cousin". Footage from this short was later used in the 1952 Famous Studios "Popeye" cartoon "Big Bad Sindbad", in which Popeye relates the story of his encounter with Sindbad to his four nephews.

Today, this short and the other two "Popeye Color Specials", "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves", and "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" are in the public domain, and are widely available on home video and DVD. A fully restored version with the original Paramount mountain logo opening and closing titles is available on the "" DVD set from Warner Bros.

"Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1994, the film was voted #17 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/Popeye_meetsSinbadtheSailor "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor"] at the Internet Archive
* [http://myeggnests50cartoons.ning.com Watch the 50 Greatest Cartoons]