I Yam Love Sick

I Yam Love Sick (1938)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Olive is all wrapped up in her romance novel that she fails to even notice poor Popeye trying to flirt. With nothing left to do Popeye decides to pretend that he's dying.

I must admit that I thought this here was one of the best films in the series up to this point. I really thought there were a couple hilarious gags early on and especially with Popeye on his "death bed" and the ways he tried to make himself look like he was dying. There's also another very funny sequence with Popeye on the operating table. As usual, the animation itself is terrific and there's no doubt that this is one of the highlights of the series.

The animation in this short is brilliant as Popeye enters a hospital that looks as though gravity and physical logic have departed long ago. I especially loved how the emergency gurney carriers follow an absurd path throughout the hospital, going up on the walls in a crazy curve toward their destination while Olive Oyl follows with her arms akimbo. It's delightful! These are the Popeye shorts I love. There was an organic humor that feels entirely like they weren't just churning out what they thought audiences would love, but what they laughed at while they drew it.

Popeye calls on Olive Oyl. He finds her reading a romance magazine, gorging on chocolates, and professing her love for Bluto. Popeye feigns a physical collapse and Olive has him taken to the hospital, where a series of doctors run tests on him.

Although some of the gags in this cartoon are quite clever -- I like the one of the X-ray showing an anchor where Popeye's spin and hipbones should be -- there one, while perfectly satisfactory, is among the weakest of the Fleischer Popeye cartoons. I attribute this to repetitive design issues in the background work, and the constant interruptions to the gag so we can watch Olive snivel.

Olive Oyl is obsessively reading her romance novel and eating chocolate from Bluto. Popeye drops by, but she tells him that she has moved on. What is a Popeye to do? He fakes being sick. Olive Oyl is upset and immediately calls the hospital. The doctors are confused as Popeye keeps faking his symptoms. A distraught Olive Oyl brings him a can of spinach. She is not happy when he reveals his deceit.

Popeye is being such a cute little liar. This actually works with a bare minimum from Bluto and spinach being a placebo. Some of these Popeye faking scenes are classics. This one does lack the fighting energy.

Gems, and also very good cartoons, from Fleischer Studios were many and have always much preferred their output as far as Popeye cartoons go over that for Famous Studios, though the latter's output was far from bad at all (just not as funny or as consistent). The stories were very thin and samey, but the cartoons, and the series in general actually, were mostly very charming and funny, well animated, scored and voiced.

'I Yam Love Sick' is almost one of the best Popeye cartoons to me. It is extremely well done and never less than very funny, its best parts being hilarious. Speaking as someone who has always enjoyed many of the Popeye cartoons a good deal and liked Popeye very much, Fleischer's efforts were always well animated and scored with lots of entertainment value and great chemistry between the characters. So much is great here and that 'I Yam Love Sick' makes something amusing and charming out of a premise that sounds mean-spirited on paper is a credit.

The first half is better than the second in my view, the funny stuff mostly happens early on whereas the cartoon gets slightly too cute towards the end.

Did appreciate though that Olive is not underused this time and love her sweet chemistry with Popeye, one can see what Popeye sees in her and the lengths he goes through here to win her over. Popeye has always been the more interesting and funnier character and his comic timing and likeability has not been lost, don't worry too his behaviour here is nowhere near as cruel as one might fear reading any summary for the story. Loved Jack Mercer's, relishing as ever the asides and Popeye's mumbling, and Mae Questel's (the only voice for Olive to do anything for me and there is a reason as to why she is the most prolific one) voice work.

Have never had an issue with the animation in the Fleischer period (it was more variable with Famous Studios), beautifully drawn and with enough visual detail to not make it cluttered or static and lively and smooth movement. The music is also outstanding, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish. Fleischer's direction is always accomplished and his style is all over it. It's a very funny cartoon too, gags are plenty and all of them hit the mark. The death bed and operating table parts are riotous.

Overall, great. 9/10