................."KING OF THE MARDI GRAS, you say ? Right !!
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, sports fans, this cable station has been doing a fine job in living up to their name for years. This showing of the Max & Dave Fleischer b & w Popeye cartons from the 1930's is just one aspect of their on going efforts. With that sort of written bouquet having been presented, let's get on with this review !
IN FOLLOWING WITH the precedent that has been set, the short puts the 4 regulars of Popeye, Olive, Bluto and Wimpy into yet another setting to do their thing. This time we have what has been called "Mardi Gras" : although it is indeed a highly e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d version of the annual "Fat Tuesday" New Orleans celebration.
TO PROVIDE THE proper venue for Popeye and Bluto to enter into their struggle and fistfight involving fair maiden, Miss Olive Oyl, the boys are rival sideshow acts. The eternal triangle is much in evidence as their fisticuffs extend across what seems to be half the fairgrounds and onto the very intricate and impossibly curvaceous Roller-coaster,
WELL, NEEDLES TO say, the short, balding, red-headed, one eyed sailor is triumphant in the end. His handy in shirt can of spinach saves the day.
THERE IS MUCH to recommend this entry into the series. Opening scene does feature what is a reasonable of a Mardi Gras street scene. (Although we cannot this with certainty; having never witnessed it with the naked eye.) The effect is accomplished with a rich array of costumed revelers lining the street, cheering and otherwise whooping it up. Its effect is enhanced with the use of the Fleischer Brothers patented Table Top Animation process; in which there is an extreme use of animation of moving both the human characters as well as the background. (musta been very expensive for a short !)
ALL CONSIDERED AND from what we've seen, 1935 surely is the very zenith of quality for Popeye on the screen. KING OF THE MARDI GRAS has to be "top shelf" in that year.
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, sports fans, this cable station has been doing a fine job in living up to their name for years. This showing of the Max & Dave Fleischer b & w Popeye cartons from the 1930's is just one aspect of their on going efforts. With that sort of written bouquet having been presented, let's get on with this review !
IN FOLLOWING WITH the precedent that has been set, the short puts the 4 regulars of Popeye, Olive, Bluto and Wimpy into yet another setting to do their thing. This time we have what has been called "Mardi Gras" : although it is indeed a highly e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d version of the annual "Fat Tuesday" New Orleans celebration.
TO PROVIDE THE proper venue for Popeye and Bluto to enter into their struggle and fistfight involving fair maiden, Miss Olive Oyl, the boys are rival sideshow acts. The eternal triangle is much in evidence as their fisticuffs extend across what seems to be half the fairgrounds and onto the very intricate and impossibly curvaceous Roller-coaster,
WELL, NEEDLES TO say, the short, balding, red-headed, one eyed sailor is triumphant in the end. His handy in shirt can of spinach saves the day.
THERE IS MUCH to recommend this entry into the series. Opening scene does feature what is a reasonable of a Mardi Gras street scene. (Although we cannot this with certainty; having never witnessed it with the naked eye.) The effect is accomplished with a rich array of costumed revelers lining the street, cheering and otherwise whooping it up. Its effect is enhanced with the use of the Fleischer Brothers patented Table Top Animation process; in which there is an extreme use of animation of moving both the human characters as well as the background. (musta been very expensive for a short !)
ALL CONSIDERED AND from what we've seen, 1935 surely is the very zenith of quality for Popeye on the screen. KING OF THE MARDI GRAS has to be "top shelf" in that year.