Popeye The Sailor The 1940s Volume 1 Blu Ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Timothy Bodzioney]

After a decade since the last DVD release of Popeye cartoons, Warner Bros. has released Popeye The Sailor The 1940s Volume 1 on Blu Ray.  This is great and unexpected news for fans who had given up hope of any further releases.  Warners scanned these cartoons in 4K from original camera negatives and they look (and sound) fabulous.



Disc Information



Studio: Warner Brothers
Distributed By: Warner Archive
Video Resolution: 1080P/AVC



Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA



Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: Not Rated



Run Time: 1 Hr. 39 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray



Case Type: Keep Case



Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A



Release Date: 12/18/18
MSRP: $21.99



The Production: 3/5
I’m not sure why this set is titled...

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[Lord Dalek]

The popular opinion with Popeye shorts is the series jumped the shark when Popeye joined the Navy with "You're a Sap Mr. Jap" and never really recovered so its not surprising to be disappointed by these mid-40s Famous era shorts.

 

[stinky fitzwizzle]

Mr. Bodzioney, needy orphans can be of any age, so don't make fun.

Stinky is looking forward to his copy.

 

[kitt1987]

Granted these are not the "best of the best" of the shorts but nevertheless they warrant a purchase and viewing to put things in perspective. To my knowledge these have never seen the light of day on home video of any kind. As stated in the review, it is important that if you support classic animation to be released on any physical format, to consider purchasing this volume to help convince Warner that there is a market for these releases. I was thrilled myself when this was announced and pre-ordered in the hopes that not only would we get future volumes but am extremely hopeful that we would get a reissue of the earlier Fleischer shorts on blu ray. That, of course, remains to be seen.

 

[warnerbro]

These look amazing and I love them because I remember seeing them when I was a little kid. I even remember Pop-Pie a la Mode. My friends and I kept quoting the last line, "Salami, salami, baloney!" As flawed as they are, I'm thrilled that we have them because of their historical value.

 

[Dan_Shane]

Posters toss around the words "flawed" and "lackluster", but that seems to be mostly in comparison to the superior Fleischer shorts. Held up against Terrytoons or some Columbia cartoons of the period I would still consider the Famous Popeye shorts very good examples of 1940s animation. Certainly the art and technical aspects of the cartoons are top-notch, with great use of squash-and-stretch. These films were very popular in their day for good reason.

Now, if I had been overseeing the studio in that period (a likely fantasy), I would have leaned more heavily on the wartime propaganda angle that put Popeye and Bluto in US Navy uniforms in the first place. The repeated contest of who would "win" Olive (while started many years earlier) became practically the only setup going forward, and the interjection of the boys into international naval scenarios would have been welcome.

The cartoons in this set may represent the top of the slippery slope of monotony that Famous Studios really hit full speed with Casper ("A g-g-g-g-g-ghost!") and Baby Huey (You're not my Ma -- you're the Fox!"), but at least this first color set makes me smile fairly frequently.

 

[Timothy Bodzioney]

The Caspers are tough; it's the same cartoon over and over and it wasn't funny the first time. At least Baby Huey's voice makes me laugh.

 

[TJPC]

I loved both these series of cartoons as a child, but I probably was about 8 when I started to find them too juvenile. I agree that they are unwatchable today.

 

[Paul Penna]

My friends and I kept quoting the last line, "Salami, salami, baloney!"

Hey! My friend and I are 72 and we're still doing it. Asamattafact just last Sunday it came up for some reason during our weekly movie day. The gag is actually recycled from the 1939 Popeye Technicolor two-reeler Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. Can't remember which one I saw first, seeing as how that had to have been around 60 years ago.

 

[Dan_Shane]

I loved both these series of cartoons as a child, but I probably was about 8 when I started to find them too juvenile. I agree that they are unwatchable today.

Oh, I can still watch them (spaced a good distance apart) for the animation techniques, but it is a chore.

The Famous series that irritated me even as a kid were the bouncing-ball sing-alongs. They may have worked in the theaters for people who remembered the nickelodeons (as seen in HUD), but on Saturday morning TV in the 1960s this kid groaned at every one of them.