Popeye Meets William Tell (1940) ** (out of 4)After narrowly avoiding Popeye with an arrow, William Tell tells him that he's looking for his missing son. Soon the two are teaming up against a cruel King.POPEYE MEETS WILLIAM TELL is one of the weaker films from the series for a number of reasons but the biggest is the fact that it really doesn't contain any laughs. Basically the majority of the six-minute running time has Popeye and Tell arguing with one another and there's also no good action or anything else for that matter. Fans will find it mildly amusing but that's about it.

Popeye Meets William Tell is one of several animated shorts in which our favorite sailor meets with a classic literary or folktale character. In this one, Popeye pretends to be Tell's son after the king demands to see William's arrow-through-apple trick. There's some chuckle-inducing banter about who should hit whom. There's also a funny gag involving a photo of Groucho Marx with his trademark "moving eyebrows" and some choice "anti-smoking" punchlines that might amuse some PC watchers though some of the results may also make them cringe. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this one Popeye cartoon that James "Shamus" Culhane directed and recommend it to any of his fans.

I find this an amusing cartoon, and it does show some of the things to expect in the Fleisher studio. There is the "in-joke" of the photo of the son of William Tell (a former star at Paramount, which produced the Fleisher cartoons), and the way the characters are developed. The cruel despotic governor actually momentarily defends Popeye (pretending to be Tell's son) when Tell slaps Popeye for smoking. The governor, who is watching this hits Tell for slapping his kid! Popeye rounds it out by knocking out the governor for hitting his dad!! It was of a series of Popeye cartoons where he met Sinbad, or Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, or Rip Van Winkle. Bluto was the villain in the first two of these, but was not in the latter or this one (nor was Olive in the latter and this one). But they are not missed, as there was plenty of mileage to get out of the Tell story.Finally the townspeople resemble in dress and actions the characters in the "Gabby" cartoons, and in Fleischer's major flop, "Gulliver's Travels". The townspeople were the best things about Gulliver - and they added to the amusement of the "Gabby" cartoons as well.

When this show was on I watched it every time I could! I thought that the characters were really funny and all had great personalities. The animation in My opinion was crisp, clean, and really clear. Not to mention beautiful! Most of the characters in this show are hilarious like the Looney Tunes characters that we all love. in My opinion these characters are the funnies and talented ever seen. In fact, The things that goes on in this series' cartoons are in My opinion nuts which that is what makes them hilarious! There are so many to like and laugh at and the silly things they do! If you like the original Looney Tunes then I strongly recommend that you watch this show!