Search - Popeye and Other Cartoon Treasures on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 8/29/2023...

I'm Popeye the Sailor man! A must for everyone!

Almost not worth the two dollars

busyhands | Southwest, USA | 11/04/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a Fleischer fan, so the prospect of having a copy of "Alladin and His Wonderful Lamp" was very appealing to me. There's good news and bad news: it's cheap (good), but low quality and fraudulently marketed (bad).

The CD promised "Popeye and other cartoon treasures". In fact, there are two Popeye cartoons and eight "other" cartoons (seven Superman and one Woody Woodpecker). OK, "Aladdin" is 30 minutes long, but the other one ("Assault and Flattery") is not what was listed on the cover, and only 1/3 of the material is actuall Popeye. Meanwhile, Treasure Box Collection sells a DVD labeled "Superman", which is probably only 1/3 Superman. I guess the idea is to sell you an armload of them, so you actually get what you paid for eventually. Not quite bait-and-switch, but close enough for me.

The first Popeye cartoon is apparently pirated from another distributor. Even though it's in the public domain, they edited out all but two frames of the title shot, which was inconveniently labeled "Copyright 1999 Burbank Video". Oops.

The second Popeye cartoon is "Aladdin". Video quality is abysmal. This one was probably also pirated from a bad VHS tape. BUT it's a fabulous cartoon, even in a lousy stolen copy. For $2, you can't really go wrong.

If you're a big Popeye fan, all the cartoons you're looking for are on the "Betty Boop" disc. Only two or three are Fleischer productions, while the rest are the awful stuff from the late '40s and '50s.

So, if you want Popeye, buy Betty Boop. If you want Superman, buy Popeye. If you want Betty Boop, buy ...?"

Superman, Popeye, Woody

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 11/04/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Highlight of POPEYE AND OTHER CARTOON TREASURES is the two-reel Aladdin short. The majority here are some of Fleischer Studios last product, their nicely-drawn Superman cartoons.

All these public domain animations enjoy wide circulation. Transfer quality depends on source material, which is often somewhat degraded on in-color films ("Aladdin" is particularly poor). Ninety-minutes' worth for as low as a cent seems a good deal, however. A fine kid's choice.

CONTENTS--
ASSAULT AND FLATTERY (1956) - Judge Wimpy watches scenes from earlier shorts to determine if Popeye is guilty of beating Bluto up.
ALADDIN AND HIS WONDERFUL LAMP (1939) - Olive dreams that Popeye is Aladdin. His magic lamp transforms Popeye into a prince.
SUPERMAN (aka "The Mad Scientist") (1941) - Series premiere covers Superman's arrival on Earth as a baby, his orphanage boyhood and employment at the Daily Planet. The Man of Steel's first villain nemesis threatens Metropolis with a ray gun.
THE MECHANICAL MONSTERS (1941) - "Mad" inventor uses robots to rob a jewelry store. Lois Lane is captured trying to stop the heist.
BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED (1942) - A trainload of gold destined for Fort Knox is hijacked, along with Lois Lane.
THE ARCTIC GIANT (1942) - A huge, frozen prehistoric lizard thaws out at a museum and reanimates. It then rampages through Metropolis.
THE BULLETEERS (1942) - Terrorists destroy several Metropolis edifices and threaten to wreck more. They abduct Lois Lane at the last place attacked.
THE MAGNETIC TELESCOPE (1942) - Plummeting meteorite fragments brought to Metropolis by a giant iron-attracting telescope badly damage the city. After refusing to halt his experiments, the device's inventor next targets the city with an immense, potentially deadly comet.
PANTRY PANIC (1941) - Woody Woodpecker faces a foodless winter after ignoring warnings from a groundhog."