Popeye_the_Sailor:_1938-1940,_Volume_2

Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940, Volume 2

Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940, Volume 2 is the second of a series of theatrical Popeye cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios to be released on a DVD set by Warner Home Video. This two-DVD set was released on June 17, 2008.

This collection has 31 cartoons of which 30 are black-and-white and the remaining is the last of the two-reel color Popeye Specials, Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. There are also special features included in each disc. The cartoons in this collection are arranged in the order they were released to theaters.

Background

On October 1938, Fleischer Studios moved from New York City to a new studio they built in Miami, Florida with money loaned from their distributor Paramount Pictures. The reasons for the move were that the studio needed additional space required to make the Fleischers' first feature film Gulliver's Travels, the bitter 1937 labor dispute at the studio and tax breaks from the city of Miami. It is generally believed that Wotta Nitemare was the first Popeye cartoon to be produced from start to finish in Miami. It's also the first of four 1939 cartoons not to feature the familiar ship door titles as it was generally believed that the ship door artwork was misplaced during the move.

Also significant was that Mae Questel refused to move to Miami so Margie Hines was the voice of Olive Oyl during the period that the cartoons were produced in Miami. The move to Miami made the cartoons less gritty and more sunny, just like the new Miami surroundings. The animation improved due to the influx of experienced west coast animators into Miami. The 1939 cartoon Cops is Always Right was the final Popeye cartoon to bear Paramount head Adolph Zukor's name.

All subsequent theatrical Popeye cartoons would say "Paramount presents..." TV syndicator Associated Artists Productions replaced those titles with new titles while keeping the Zukor titles intact.

The original Paramount titles were restored for this collection. Shakespearian Spinach from 1940 was the first cartoon not to bear Popeye creator Segar's name after his death in 1938. But storm clouds were starting to appear over Fleischer Studios. World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, cutting off that valuable and profitable foreign market for the Fleischers.

Mistakes

Warner Home Video reported that two cartoons on the initial batch of disc one have incorrect opening sequences. While all the cartoons bear the Paramount logo, two of the cartoons, Customers Wanted and Hello, How Am I? have a.a.p.-created Popeye title cards. WHV is allowing owners with the faulty disc to call a toll-free number to receive a self-addressed stamped envelope in order to exchange the disc.

DVD listing

Unless otherwise indicated, these are one reel black and white cartoons.
Dave Fleischer received director credit on every cartoon in this set.

Disc one

1938

I Yam Love Sick
Plumbin' Is A Pipe
Popeye the Sailor with the Jeep
Bulldozing the Bull
Mutiny Ain't Nice
Goonland
A Date to Skate

1939

Cops is Always Right
Customers Wanted (compilation film)
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (in Technicolor, two reel)
Leave Well Enough Alone
Wotta Nitemare
Ghosks Is The Bunk
Hello-How Am I?
It's The Natural Thing to Do

Special features

Popeye Popumentaries:

Eugene the Jeep: A Breed of His Own
Poopdeck Pappy: The Nasty Old Man and the Sea
O-Re-Mi: Mae Questel and the Voices of Olive Oyl
Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story.

Disc two

1939

Never Sock a Baby

1940

Shakespearean Spinach
Females is Fickle
Stealin' Ain't Honest
Me Feelins is Hurt
Onion Pacific
Wimmin is a Myskery
Nurse Mates
Fightin' Pals
Doing Impossikible Stunts
Wimmin Hadn't Oughta Drive
Puttin' on the Act
Popeye Meets William Tell
My Pop, My Pop
Popeye the Sailor with Poopdeck Pappy
''Popeye Presents Eugene the Jeep

Special features

Popeye Popumentry: Men of Spinach and Steel.

From the Vault:

Paramount presents Popular Science: behind the scenes at Fleischer's Miami studio--a 1938 Paramount short
The Mechanical Monsters--a 1941 Superman short
Early Max Fleischer Art Gallery
Females is Fickle pencil test
Stealin' Ain't Honest storyboard reel
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man vintage audio recording by Billy Costello
Michael Sporn interviews Jack Mercer (audio only).