While I have never been a huge fan of Popeye because the cartoons are so darn repetitive, this very first Popeye is well worth seeing--for historical reasons, because it was significantly better than the efforts of most other studios (which tended towards cutesy singing cartoons) and because it was so original at that time. However, the Fleischer Studios was a bit hesitant to just toss Popeye out there and hope that people will like him. Instead, they billed this as a Betty Boop cartoon on the title screen. Additionally, Betty makes a short but risqué appearance mid-way through the film--sort of like she was giving her seal of approval to the series.One big difference between this and most of the later Popeye cartoons is with Olive Oyl. Her voice was not provided by the usual Mae Questel (also the voice of Betty Boop). Olive's horribly annoying voice is not so annoying and Bonnie Poe's voice is noticeably deeper and less migraine-inducing! Aside from that, the cartoon is pretty much like any of the early Popeyes. The art work is the usual beautifully detailed black & white Fleischer animation that you can't help but respect. Bluto and Popeye do their usual routines, though Popeye does seem a bit more macho without his spinach than later films and so the difference that the spinach makes is less notable. Also, notice the final scene where our hero saves Olive--and possibly kills a train load of innocent people in the process! One sad thing in the film many won't notice is the carnival bit where Popeye and the rest are throwing balls at a guy's head. Such ball throwing booths were common back then and involved throwing baseballs at a Black man's face! While the guy in the cartoon is pretty cartoony, he is Black skinned and this is a sick little aspect of the 1930s that has been forgotten--and that probably isn't a bad thing at all.

ALWAYS on the lookout for new material and fresh "faces" to bring to their animated films, the Brothers Fleischer, Max and Dave, had apparently struck some sort of deal with Hearst's King Features Syndicate to bring some of their humorous comic strips to the screen.* Consequently we saw the likes of 'HENRY' by Carl Anderson, 'THE LITTLE KING' by Otto Soglow and the runaway hit character from E.Z. Segar's THIMBLE THEATER Comic Strip, POPEYE.RECIPROCALLY perhaps, King Features distributed a BETTY BOOP Comic Strip in the 1930s; which was credited to Max Fleischer, but most likely was ghosted by others.EXPERIMENTATION with the newspaper strips was limited to these three; but only the only one to come around to the full fruition** for the Fleischer Brothers, Paramount Pictures Corporation and We, the People, was the gruff, squinty-eyed, bow-legged, nearly bald, red-headed, ham fisted scrapper of a seaman, Popeye, Himself. *** THE first cartoon, titled POPEYE THE SAILOR (Fleischer Studios/Paramount Pictures, 1933), was officially part of the BETTY BOOP Series; although Miss Betty graciously defers to the Spinach Man, taking a supporting, almost cameo, sort of a part as a Hula Dancing Girl at the carnival, which was the setting for the story.AMAZINGLY, this initial outing seemingly contained all of the basic elements that were Popeye stuff, right from the start. It was almost as if it was a sort of genetic code for cinematic productions; with all that would come later over the next 6 decades being present in primitive form in the very first outing.OUR STORY: Popeye meets up with Olive Oyl (they're obviously already 'goin' steady.') as he disembarks his ship for some much needed shore leave. Bluto shows up to provide some rivalry and the means of providing some fisticuffs. Miss Boop as we said before, comes in well into the second half of the picture; but manages to get in some really neat hoofing with Popeye, both being products of the Fleischers' Patented Rotoscope Process.**** REALLY, Schultz, that's about it; of course it's all embellished with plenty of those famous sight-gags, for which Director Dave Fleischer had become so well known.NONE of the other cast of Mr. Segar's characters from the strip make an appearance. There's no Roughhouse, no Wimpy, no Swea' Pea. Missing in action are Castor Oyl (Olive's brother), Sea Hag, Poop Deck Pappy and Eugene, the Jeep. However, they would all be highly visible in future cartoons, coming series in Popeye's venerable and prolific cinematic output.THE cast of voice actors was a little different than what we later would become used to. Popeye and Olive were rendered by William Costello and Bonnie Poe. Mae Questel was there, but did her usual Betty Boop; but not Olive, yet. Jack Mercer hadn't signed on as Popeye until some time later; although we did view a print of this cartoon that apparently had been re-dubbed with Mr. Mercer's unmistakable rendition of the Sailor Man's golden tones.BIZARRE is the only way that to describe many of the supporting characters; be they part of a carnival crowd or one of Popeye's co-worker sailors taking their shore leave. It seemed to be out of place (at least to this writer) to have the being anthropomorphic funny animals. Whereas this , we're certain, had been a common practice in the BETTY BOOP world, no POPEYE picture ever would repeat its use; opting for adherence to the principle of depicting only humans (and Parrots) as talkers.NOTE: * King Features' adventure strip properties such as TIM TYLER'S LUCK, JUNGLE JIM and FLASH GORDON were adapted to the screen by Universal Pictures as Cliff-Hanging Serials.NOTE: ** Oddly enough, the one cartoon "Star" Fleischer Studios had copyright on was Miss BETTY BOOP, herself. Their two most successful series were the All Color SUPERMAN Cartoons of the 1940's (owned by D.C./National Comics) and our guy, POPEYE (Hearst's King Features Syndicate).NOTE: *** Yeah, Schultz, just the same as yours truly, Popeye is a Red Head, poor guy! NOTE: **** The ROTOSCOPE is an animation production device of MAX & DAVE FLEISCHER'S which is used to make realistic animated movement by allowing animators to trace individual frames of film of live action persons and animals even.POODLE SCHNITZ!!

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 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!

The first Popeye cartoon ever, although it was marketed as a Betty Boop cartoon. It was also the first in a series of cartoons where Betty Boop met various characters from newspaper comics (Such as The Little King) in animated form. Naturally, Popeye was the only one who the Fleischer Brothers got any mileage out of.Very entertaining, like all the early Popeye's. Betty Boop makes only a small cameo, but it's hard to miss. Try to get the black and white version, since the colorized version, I dunno. It just seems to take away some of the excitement.4/4