Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
About Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
Coast Guard sailors Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Wimpy hear that Abu Hassan is looting an Arabian town and fly off in their boat, which crashes in the desert. Hassan, drawn like Bluto, hangs Popeye from a chandelier and carries Olive and Wimpy into his cave. Popeye burns his way in with his pipe, eats spinach to get out of a pit, punches the forty thieves one by one, locks Hassan in a treasure chest, and marches the chained band back to town with the stolen goods.
Cast & crew
More about Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
Dave Fleischer directed the Technicolor short for Max Fleischer. Paramount released it on November 26, 1937, while Walt Disney was still finishing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Fleischer advertised the studio's multiplane camera on the picture.
Themes
Background
Paramount put the color Popeye specials into theaters in 1936 and 1937, the same years Disney was preparing its first feature-length cartoon.
Making
The short was drawn in Technicolor at Fleischer Studios and sold on the strength of the multiplane setups, which the studio billed as three-dimensional.
Technique
The short uses Fleischer's multiplane camera, which the studio advertised as a three-dimensional effect.
Music
Sammy Timberg supervised the score, with additional music by Sammy Lerner. Tot Seymour and Vee Lawnhurst wrote the Abu Hassan song.
Preservation
The short is in the public domain. A restored version is on disc four of the set Popeye the Sailor: 1933–1938, Volume 1.
Notes
- Jack Mercer speaks Popeye, Mae Questel speaks Olive Oyl, Lou Fleischer speaks J. Wellington Wimpy, and Gus Wickie speaks Abu Hassan.
- Willard Bowsky was head animator. George Germanetti and Orestes Calpini also animated, with uncredited work by George Sheehan and Lillian Friedman.
- Sammy Timberg supervised the music. The 'Abu Hassan' song has lyrics by Tot Seymour and music by Vee Lawnhurst.
- Wikipedia lists the writers as uncredited: I. Sparber, Seymour Kneitel, Bill Turner, and Jack Ward.
- It is one of the three Popeye Color Specials, with Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp.
Scenes
- The flying boat crashes in the desert before the sailors reach the town.
- Popeye uses his pipe as a blowtorch because he cannot remember 'open sesame.'
- After the spinach, he knocks the thieves down one at a time and locks Hassan in a chest.
Influenced by
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Also available
- Internet Archive (PopeyeAliBaba)
- Popeye the Sailor: 1933–1938, Volume 1
