Popeye the DVD man…

Well, it’s finally official. After literally decades of rights snafus (which prevented them from being released at any time during the video tape era), the Fleischer Brother black and white Popeye cartoons from the ’30s and ’40s are finally due to start coming out on DVD.

Warners is set to release a 60 (!) cartoon, four-disc Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938 Volume 1 set on July 31st of this year. This will include the two of the three color Popeye cartoons the Fleischer’s produced, which fell into public domain quite some time ago and thus been on every cheapie animation video and DVD for the last twenty years.

Besides, those cartoons really aren’t that great. The black & white stuff, though…as good as it gets. The cartoons will be arranged in chronological order of theatrical release date, and in addition there will be five hours of bonus materials. The cartoons themselves have supposedly been painstakingly restored and are supposed to look (fittingly) eye-poppingly good.

Man, that’s just fantastic. For me, this has the to be the best DVD news of the year.

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Ed

I’ve seen a couple of those cartoons years ago and they are just total works of art. I can’t remember the details that well but I remember one took place in a large house that was rocking back and forth and the fluidity of the furniture and things in the house rollicking everywhere with the swaying motion was just hypnotic. The are great cartoons. I think the other one was called “It’s the Sauce” but I can’t remember if it was in color. The house one was black and white and just stunning to watch.
BeckoningChasm

That’s great news. I remember some of those things from ages ago…in particular, the “Goons.” Some of the Popeye stuff made Betty Boop look staid and normal.
Brandi

The color ones “not that great”? Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor has a great song and some nifty animation and backgrounds.
PCachu

Gotta second on Popeye Meets Sindbad. That one, along with the lesser Popeye Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves, was a showcase for Fleischer’s Tabletop parallax process, which filmed the animation inside of a miniature modeled environment to provide a sense of depth when the frame moved. (See the Wikipedia entry on “Multiplane Camera”.)

Plus, it’s just a great all-around cartoon, and you will NEVER GET THAT SONG OUT OF YOUR HEAD. I’ve got it on an old el-cheapo DVD from Best Buy, and am hoping for a decent restoration now that someone other than the public-domain package crowd is on the case.
BeckoningChasm

By the way, if they include the “Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp” cartoon, watch and notice how closely Disney’s version parallels. Somebody certainly studied that cartoon. Even the ice cream and bathtub jokes were duplicated…
rab smith

The Fleischer ‘POPEYES’ are, for me, the most breathtakingly brilliant surrealistic gems in animation history. A total joy to behold, and the main inspiration in my decision to take up cartooning seriously.

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