As a bit of a follow up to the Fleischer studios first animated feature; Gulliver’s Travels, and the Superman cartoon, here is their “Color Specials” trilogy of Arabian Nights themed Popeye the Sailor shorts.
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwUpvf2jXY - from the 8thManDVD.com™ Cartoon Channel YouTube channel (16 mins long - 1080p upscale)
Synopsis:
The legendary sailors Popeye and Sindbad do battle to see which one is the greatest.
Directed by Dave Fleischer & Willard Bowsky.
Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wickie & Lou Fleischer.
Trivia:
• This short was the first of the three Popeye Color Specials, which, at over sixteen minutes each, were billed as “A Popeye Feature.”
• It was nominated for the 1936 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, but lost to Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony: The Country Cousin.
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves (1937)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miw_Jw7j2sE - from the 8thManDVD.com™ Cartoon Channel YouTube channel (17 mins long - 1080p upscale)
Synopsis:
Popeye the Sailor, accompanied by Olive Oyl and Wimpy, is dispatched to stop the dreaded bandit Abu Hassan and his force of forty thieves.
Directed by Dave Fleischer & Willard Bowsky.
Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wickie & Lou Fleischer.
Trivia:
• It was produced while Fleischer competitor Walt Disney was entering the final months of production on his first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• It made full use of Fleischer Studios’s multiplane camera, which they had been experimenting with for some time.
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1939)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv7IH291KBo - from the 8thManDVD.com™ Cartoon Channel YouTube channel (21 mins long - 1080p upscale)
Synopsis:
Working in the story department of Surprise Pictures, Olive Oyl writes a script based on the story of Aladdin, casting Popeye as the thief and herself as the Princess.
Directed by Dave Fleischer & Dave Tendlar.
Cast: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer & Carl Meyer.
Trivia:
According to the film’s press release, its making involved two hundred colors and twenty-eight thousand individual, full-color drawings; the press release also mentions 3D animation, but such footage was never used in the final version. However, a glimpse can be obtained in a Popular Science short (see Bonus Video below), which documents the film’s making, and reveals a sculpted model of the castle being photographed.
Bonus Video:
The Making of a Popeye Cartoon (1938)