Studio: Famous Studios
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Produced by: Seymour Kneitel, Isadore Sparber
Short Synopsis
Popeye, in his comic-strip sailor whites, takes his nephews to a maritime museum. They stop in front of an enormous statue of Sindbad the Sailor, which the nephews admire as the greatest sailor who ever lived. Popeye sets them straight: he once met Sindbad, and he tells them how. The story is the 1936 two-reeler Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, re-edited and shortened, with a new soundtrack: Sindbad's island of monsters, the giant Roc, Popeye's shipwreck, the two-headed giant Boola, and the final fight in which Popeye's spinach wins the day and the title of greatest sailor. Back in the museum, Popeye's version of events turns out to have been lightly improved, and the nephews, convinced, pull the statue down.
Why It Matters
- Nearly all of the cartoon is Fleischer footage from 1936, which makes it a curious object: Famous Studios' reduced 1950s unit presenting the lavish Technicolor two-reeler of its predecessor as a flashback, with new wraparound animation and a new score. For audiences in 1952 it was the only way to see the Sindbad film in cinemas.
- It is in the public domain in the United States, its copyright never renewed, and some public-domain compilations carry a restored print; it is also the last cartoon to carry Dave Fleischer's work, however indirectly, and the second of only two Famous Studios films to put Popeye back in his original strip uniform.
Notes and Trivia
- Bluto's lines as Sindbad are redubbed by Jackson Beck in place of Gus Wickie, who had died in 1947.
- The 1936 original was the only Popeye cartoon nominated for an Academy Award.
- See also: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), Customers Wanted (1939), Popeye's 20th Anniversary (1954).
