Studio: Fleischer Studios
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Produced by: Max Fleischer
Short Synopsis
Olive Oyl works in the story department of Surprise Pictures, and she is writing a screen treatment of Aladdin, casting herself as the beautiful Princess and Popeye as Aladdin, a poor young man, all of it in rhyme. As she types, her story plays out on screen. Aladdin finds the magic lamp, and its genie makes him rich; he courts the Princess in grand style, and wins her. But the evil Vizier, who wants both the Princess and the kingdom, tricks his way into getting the lamp, and uses the genie to steal the palace and carry the Princess away. Aladdin, stripped of everything, has to win her back by his own wits and strength, and does, with the help of a can of spinach. The film then returns to Olive at her typewriter, finishing her script.
Why It Matters
- The film looks and moves differently from the first two Color Specials: the palace interiors, flying carpet and genie scenes are lush, with smooth, rounded character animation in the Disney manner, and Olive's rhyming narration gives the story the feel of a storybook read aloud.
- It was the last of the three two-reel Popeye Color Specials, often billed in cinemas alongside or even above the main feature. Coming the same year as the Fleischers' first feature, Gulliver's Travels, it shows the studio moving away from its own rough, surreal style towards the more polished Disney approach.
Notes and Trivia
- Unlike the first two specials, it does not use the Fleischers' Stereoptical three-dimensional model sets.
- All three Color Specials are in the U.S. public domain and circulate widely, mostly in faded copies; Warner Bros. has released restored versions.
- See also: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937).