A Hull of a Mess (1942)*** (out of 4)Highly entertaining short has the government offering a contract to either Popeye or Bluto, depending on who can create the first one first. This leads the two men into a fierce battle.This is certainly one of the better Popeye shorts from this era thanks in large part to a creative story and one that has plenty of action. This here is basically one giant race as we see how both men go about trying to get their ship in order and of course there's a lot of creativity here. What's best is the fact that Bluto is always doing great work yet it's just one small step behind Popeye. There are a lot of funny gags here and makes for a very good time.

This is a battle, as we have seen in other Popeye cartoons, between Popeye and Bluto and who can accomplish something first. Usually, the "reward" is Olive Oyl but here it is a defense contract to build ships.So, we have Popeye's Shipyard against Bluto's Shipyard. The first place to build a battleship and deliver it to the U.S. Navy will win the contract.Here's where the humors comes, showing how the boys build the ship. Odd, neither one has any employees - they do all the work! Actually, when you see how super-human these two guys are - especially Popeye - you see why they don't need employees. The riveting, laying down of metal sheets, building portholes, etc., are all shown in funny and clever ways.It gets predictable after Popeye wins, how Bluto gets even and then how Popeye prevails anyway, thanks to his spinach. I'll have to say the ending is a bit far-fetched, even for Popeye and his spinach (building an entire fleet in seconds??!!) but it's all in good fun.