Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)

Alright, so here’s the thing: if you ever sat by Kanal 5 back in like -97, when it rained Västerås style and you had three sorts of cheese & only knäckebröd at home, you know there’s something weirdly comforting about the old “Popeye the Sailor” shorts. But “Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor,” directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer (yes, the guy who gave us Betty Boop, so already there you’re expecting madness), is just… wild.

Remember Jack Mercer? He voices Popeye, and honestly, it sounds like he’s chewing a small sock while talking – but in the best possible way. Mae Questel as Olive Oyl gives me a slight headache and a smile at the same time, kinda like that time on midsommar when my cousin put salt in the strawberry cake. The villain, Sindbad, is voiced by Gus Wickie, and he’s a brute in both voice and beard. Makes you wanna go out and chop wood or something.

You know what strikes me, though? The colors! This was one of the first “Popeye” shorts in glorious Technicolor. I saw it first at farfar’s place, the old TV humming so loud you could almost taste the static in the air. We had sockerkaka and I swore Sindbad was just Bluto in a funky hat. I’m still not sure.

The humor is slapstick but clever (and the animation at times feels almost too good for the silly gags). There’s a weird, old-school magic here. Even if the plot is thinner than ice on Mälaren in april, who cares? Popeye eats his spinach – which, by the way, made me actually try spinach once. Didn’t spit it out, but didn’t write home about it either.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, or just need twenty minutes of pure, weird cartoon energy, give it a go. Maybe bring some sockerkaka. Maybe don’t put salt in it.

watch the full movie on Mavshack Movies on YouTube

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