Another Color Popeye Gem-Ali Baba's Forty Thieves

 Here's another gem in Fleischer's Popeye filmography.

One that is in color too.

It's Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's forty thieves.

Released on November 26 1937, Approximately one month before the release of Snow White.

oh.... and pretty much released 21 days after the release of THE OLD MILL.

So if you think the competition with your favorite modern cartoon is stupidly fierce? Think twice before thinking like that and imagine finding out Popeye was going up against a Silly Symphony and Disney's feature length spectacle one month later.

Anyway, Back to Ali Baba, this is another personal favorite of any Popeye cartoon, aside from Sinbad, The Paneless Window Washer, Can you take it, Aladdin and his wonderful lamp, etc.

After a beautifully rendered opening sequence...

We find another beautifully rendered scene made with 3d Models, which was created by Fleischer's Patented Setback Camera.

The skull is a dead giveaway that it's a physical 3D Model

Think twice before you say Disney revolutionized animation cameras. The reality is, Fleischer had the better camera which made them ahead of it's time.. and better yet, they've been using this 3D tabletop camera since their BETTY BOOP days.

Again, just like in Sinbad, we have Bluto as another villain. This time as Abu Hassan.

And once again, he sings a self-congratulatory song... sort of. He's singing to the audience about his impending invasion of an undisclosed location.

And look at that, He's managed to get people at his side. What a feet.

Seconds Later, 

Oh my god. I can only imagine how people reacted with awe when they see this closeup of Popeye. There were many closeups of the Sailor early on but compare that to his surly look in his earliest shorts such as CAN YOU TAKE IT?, 

Yeah, it's clear that Fleischer studios was having a field day when they found out Disney was trying to make a feature length Cartoon filled with cute characters but back then, they had the same mentality as all the critics of the 1930s had in which they thought Snow White would be Disney's Folly but when the film became a beloved triumph, that caused the industry and Fleischer to reconsider their remarks.

But yeah, Popeye was made to look much more cuter and pleasing to the eyes. They already had to tone down his surly design from when they translated his appearance from Thimble Theatre into something more cartoon friendly.

But at least Popeye kept his Beady eyes which is something that he'd drop once FAMOUS Studios took over in the 40s.

But here's Olive and her emergence of Sclera eyes.

Granted, this was only a closeup as she retained her beady eyes in the rest of the cartoon.

Poor, Poor Wimpy. Even in full 3-Strip technicolor, he still can't enjoy a nice burger.

He'll have to pay the McDonalds brothers next Tuesday before he can have his burger before the restaurant chain's opening in 1940.

I won't indulge further in these next screenshots before the next paragraph but I will say, this is one of my favorite gags in this cartoon.     heheheheh, malfunctioning seaplanes.,...

Another beautifully rendered 3D Setback Camera scene. 

With an added night shot.

Food gags anyone?

"FOOD!!!"

"ARGH!!!. The laws of the desert be a harsh mistress."

HEY!!! THIS IS NO TIME TO REST. AND WHO PUT THAT TRAFFIC LIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EMPTY DESERT?

YEAH. YOU HEARD THE LIGHT! GO. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. MOVE ALONG.

And that's where I'll have to end this post since If I show off screenshots in chronological order, I wind up spoiling the rest of the cartoon for you.

One thing I'm happy about is the fact that I showed off a copy of Ali Baba that actually has accurate colors when compared to Sinbad where one had very minor vinegar colors while the other had gawdy RAINBOW BRITE-like colors.

Aside from a color restoration screwup in the cave sequence, which had a 3d background of all things, 

"Hey! What's with the purple rock formations here?"

This print is well restored...

Though I did see a few bits of smearing on the video. It's not the bitrate but rather it may have been AI upscaled but the upscaling is so minor and the film runs at 24 frames per second that you really can't tell the difference, unlike what happened with Fleischer's Superman Cartoons.

If you want to see the last Color Popeye made by Fleischer in this blog, whoop-dee-doo. I'm saving that for December.

But at least I will do my analysis on the other Black and White Popeyes out there.