TV Show Reviews

‘Popeye The Sailor’: The 1940s, Vol 3 Blu-Ray Review – Iconic Character Gets 5-Star Treatment

By Dillon Gonzales
July 5, 2020
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Warner Archive once again gives animation fans a real treat with this third volume of 17 shorts that wraps up the 1940s era of Popeye the Sailor. This release collects the 1948-1949 “Famous Studios” era of Popeye that is notable for several reasons. Voice of Popeye and story man, Jack Mercer, had finished his military service which allowed him to return as the voice of our hero in every short present on this disc. Also, this was the period where fatigue started to set in with the creative team, which led to some remakes of earlier Fleischer Studios cartoons and even the occasional clip show. In addition to this, Paramount Pictures were experimenting with different filming techniques to cut down on costs. The shorts presented here were made using one of three different color-processing techniques – Cinecolor, Polacolor, or three-strip Technicolor, each one with their own noticeable style. Despite these developments, there is still a lot to love in this collection.

Some of the standout shorts on the disc find Popeye squaring off against Hercules, giving a new spin on Robin Hood and visiting the Old West. There is even a fun short that breaks the standard formula where Olive Oyl takes the spotlight without have the boys fight over her. Otherwise, you pretty much know what you are getting as Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto are always in a tug of war of lust and emotions. The formula works well, but this is a series that is best enjoyed if you do not binge it in one sitting. As is commonplace with older animation, this disc opens up with a warning that some of these cartoons contain ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. Warner Archive thankfully presents these shorts as they were originally shown rather than locking these cartoons away or butchering them. Below is a rundown of the shorts on this disc:

Olive Oyl for President (1948)

Wigwam Whoopee (1948)

Pre-Hysterical Man (1948)

Popeye Meets Hercules (1948)

A Wolf in Sheik’s Clothing (1948)

Spinach vs Hamburgers (1948)

Snow Place Like Home (1948)

Robin Hood-Winked (1948)

Symphony in Spinach (1948)

Popeye’s Premiere (1949)

Lumberjack and Jill (1949)

Hot Air Aces (1949)

A Balmy Swami (1949)

Tar with a Star (1949)

Silly Hillbilly (1949)
Barking Dogs Don’t Fite (1949)

The Fly’s Last Flight (1949)

Video Quality

Warner Archive brings Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 3 to Blu-Ray sourced from a brand new 4K scan of each short’s original nitrate negative. The quality of these shorts is visually stunning with vibrant colors and seldom a trace of damage to be found. There is a beautiful amount of natural film grain present with a remarkable amount of detail and clarity to the picture. The black levels hold up really well with no instances of black crush to be found. There is a notice before A Wolf In Sheik’s Clothing that mentions major issues with the source material, including a missing magenta strip from the three-strip Technicolor. It is a miracle that this short was even able to be included, and the resulting image is quite stellar in its slight imperfection. Warner Archive represents the gold standard in preservation.

Audio Quality

The audio quality of the Blu-Ray disc is similarly excellent with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio (mono) track that is top notch. If you have only seen these tracks on TV with all manner of age-related wear and tear, these tracks will blow you away with the clarity of the dialogue, sound effects and music throughout. Everything is working together in perfect harmony to give you the best listening experience possible. This disc also includes optional English (SDH) subtitles during all 17 shorts.

Special Features

This one disc release does not contain any additional special features, but the quality of the main content of this disc is just wonderful and makes up for this.

Final Thoughts

This third and final volume of 1940s era Popeye The Sailor provides many laughs and joyous moments over these 17 shorts, which is coupled with a top-notch A/V presentation. Animation fans are lucky to have a studio such as Warner Archive looking out for them as they put an immense amount of care into providing the best presentation possible. While this wraps up the 1940s era of Popeye The Sailor, let us all hope Warner Archive keeps delivering future installments covering other decades on Blu-Ray. Highly Recommended

Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 3 can be purchased directly through Warner Archive or various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.