And so, we start with Olive running at top speed, holding... nay, clutching a newspaper. She gets home to Popeye and Swee'Pea in the crib (I assume) and we finally see the headline: "Vaudeville Coming Back." Hmm! Maybe I should listen to that commentary!
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Ouch. Well, here's a damning comment: I was watching the DVD on the television, and the way our house is, you can do the dishes and see the television out of the corner of your eye at the same time. The person who was doing dishes at the time said that it didn't seem like the greatest Popeye cartoon in the world. Oh, s'z'nap! Sure, it's awful, and sure, the Fleischers had seen better days, but... oh, there's just no getting around it. Why, it's nothing but a series of plot left-overs strung together like some kind of plot blood sausage! I HATE things like that! Like that Pink Panther cartoon, Pink-Outs... man, they got everything on the YouTubes. But to be fair, as the commentary guy points out, there's no spinach in this one... I don't think that's a first, though. But I think it's the first imitations that Popeye does. He imitates Jimmy Durante (meh), Stan Laurel (good, but juggling was more of W.C. Fields' shtick) and Groucho Marx, and I dare say they've got a gag worthy of the Marxes: a pool cue comes out from Stage Right, and Popeye as Groucho says "I think that's my cue to leave!" Ah, Vaudeville. If you didn't make it there, you probably didn't make it in film or on Broadway. Take the Cherry Sisters, for example! Never mind, I've heard they're the pits. Ha-cha-cha-cha!
Good double bill with: Hamateur Night
***
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan
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