I'm in the Army Now

Popeye and Bluto are walking hand in hand with Olive Oyl. She tells them that she loves a man in uniform. They immediately run into the recruitment office. The recruiter tells them that the army only has one more spot and the boys compete with clips from their photo book. This is essentially a clip show. The problem is that the premise doesn't make sense in two different ways. It's ridiculous that the army can't sign up both of them and the photo book turns into a video book for some reason. Neither makes it compelling. It's one of the poorer Popeye shorts.

"I'm crazy about a man in uniform," coos Olive Oyl, who is walking down the street arm-in- arm with both Popeye and Bluto. Since both are nuts over the skinny woman, they both rush in to the Army Recruting Station down the street. "I only have room for one," says the recruiter. (Since when?)

Bluto and Popeye show pictures (which are translated into short movies for us) showing the recruiter how brave and tough they have been in the past. They show themselves as gunslingers, swordsmen, etc.

Who wins the contest and who gets Olive? Well, you can probably guess. Overall, this was okay but nothing noteworthy.

I'm In The Army Now (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Popeye, Bluto and Olive Oyl are walking down the street when the lady sees an Army sign and says she wants a military man. Popeye and Bluto go to apply but are told there's only one position available so they show clips from previous movies to show their worth.

If you look at the number of Popeye shorts released in 1936 you might ask yourself why they needed another like this, which basically consists of footage from previous shorts. Throughout the series and especially once we got into the 1950s there were several films that were released that had a minute or so of new footage and then footage from previous films. This short is mildly entertaining but the clips from the earlier movies are so small that they really lose their impact so it's best that you watch them in their full form.

In this one, Olive Oyl is walking down the street with Popeye and Bluto disputing whom she really wants to date. She spots an army recruiting poster and goes gaga. The boys head into the recruiting office. They vie for the one opening spot by opening their scrapbooks, showing clips from their earlier cartoons.

In series television, this would be called a clip show, which is literally one composed largely of clips from earlier shows. In cartooning, its known as a cheater, a way to reduce production costs by repeating a bit of film -- "looping" -- or other means. These techniques reduce the cost of making a production, indicating that the Popeye series was spending more than its budget.

Many fine cartoons were seen with Dave Fleischer. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

He and the studio did much better than 'I'm in the Army Now', which is a disappointment for them and for the Popeye cartoons. Like the character very much and enjoy to love a vast majority of his cartoons. 'I'm in the Army Now' is sadly not one of them. As far as the Fleischer era Popeye cartoons go, it's a strong contender for the weakest, and for me it's one of the lesser Popeye cartoons overall. Not because it's unwatchable, it's a long way from that, but it is one of the few Popeye cartoons where the point of it being made is questioned (rare for this particular period). Which is not a good position to be in watching a Popeye cartoon. Due to recycling, and not particularly well, four previous Popeye cartoons, and then having a not very interesting story to feature them in.

Of course there are good things, even the lesser Popeye cartoons have at least three or four good things. is very good as always from this period. It's beautifully drawn and with immaculate visual detail, that doesn't ever feel cluttered or static, and lively and smooth movement. The music likewise, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish.

There are amusing moments, while Popeye and Bluto are typically fun characters. The chemistry between the two drives 'I'm in the Army Now', not unexpected as that was the case with all of their cartoons, and it is fun to watch and boasts some clever visuals. The voice acting is typically adept, with Jack Mercer's mumblings and asides coming over most memorably.

It is a shame however that 'I'm in the Army Now' doesn't have a particularly interesting story, with energy that comes and goes, and that it's very predictable. Olive Oyl has very little to do, and what she has is nothing special.

As said, 'I'm in the Army Now' is one of the few Popeye cartoons that came over as pointless. It has the feel of a "cheater", with clips of four previous cartoons ('Blow Me Down', 'Shoein Hosses', 'Choose Your Weppins' and 'King of the Mardi Gras') recycled. All four very enjoyable indeed, but there are better Popeye cartoons to me and funnier sequences than the ones selected. The treatment of them is also a problem, they don't fit in seamlessly and they are far too short, do completely agree that it is better seeing the cartoons in full.

Not a cartoon to dismiss completely by any stretch, but the main reason to see 'I'm in the Army Now' in the first place is if you want to see all Popeye's filmography. 6/10