Nix on Hypnotricks

Nix on Hypnotricks (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Fast paced and entertaining short has an evil hypnotist putting a spell on Olive and forcing her to walk to him. This puts her in all sorts of danger and Popeye gets most of the abuse trying to save her.

This here is a pretty good entry for the series as there are plenty of laughs and a lot of action as well. The majority of the running time has Popeye chasing Olive all over the place and taken a beating along the way. The highlight of the short is a scene where Popeye gets abused by a flock of birds. As you'd expect, the animation is top- notch.

In this Popeye, there is a different nemesis, Professor I Stare, a Svengali-like hypnotist. He calls Olive Oyl, commands him to "Come to me" (after trying to hypnotize a goldfish, which squirted water in his face). Olive falls into a trance, and walks like a zombie, with Popeye following, to save her. This hypnotist WAS bent on CONTROLLING her, which is NOT the purpose of hypnosis at all! Hypnosis is, itself, neither good, bad, nor indifferent, and is useful for medicinal purposes AND for amusement. Trouble is that too many cartoons about this subject cast hypnosis in unfavorable light. In REAL life, hypnotists do NOT try to control people, turn them into automatons (as this one did to Olive Oyl). Nor do hypnotists act like certain make-believe characters like fairies, witches, yookoohoos (magicians who are artists in transformation), etc., turning people into what they are not. Yet other Popeyes make people think that hypnotists are villains, "The Hyp-Nut-Ist", "Fistic Mystic", "Balmy Swami". Again, hypnosis DOES have value as medicinal tool as well as entertainment, but is NOT COERCIVE! In real life, hypnosis subjects are volunteers; if the hypnotist is competent, he/she will not harm the subject. It is BRAINWASHING that is immoral and indecent, something to be AVOIDED at all cost. Hypnotism is another matter; I agree that this casting of hypnotism in negative terms is for amusement, but should not be basis for condemnation. Whatever impressions and conclusion the viewer receives, "Nix on Hypnotricks" was quite amusing.

This short has a different villain, a different voice for Olive Oyl and is toward the latter stages of the Fleischers' run doing cartoons for Paramount. The gags are more visual than verbal here as Popeye once again must save Olive from a fate worse than death. Great animation and well worth watching. Recommended.

Hey, you can get hypnotized for just 10 cents in this Popeye cartoon of 1941. Professor "I. Stare" will hypnotize you.

The problem is the guy can't drum up any business. So, he grabs a phone book, flips the pages and random puts his finger on the page. Yes, it's "Olive Oyl," whose name is on the swami's fingertip. (I say swami because the guy is wearing a turban, has a beard and looks like the stereotyped one of the day.)

Anyway, the guy must be pretty good as the words "come to me, come to me," over the phone soon put Olive in trance and see sleepwalks out of the apartment. Popeye, you had been with her at the time, sizes up the situation and follows her.

The rest of the cartoon - the bulk of it - is Popeye battling traffic, construction sites and skyscrapers in trying to follow Olive.

"I'm just a victim of circum-trance," comments Popeye.

There are good sight gags in here, although ones we've seen before in previous sleepwalking stories, and the artwork looked excellent on this new restored Popeye The Sailor Man 1941-1943 DVD.

1941 was a mixed to pretty good year for the Popeye theatrical series and saw some very good cartoons, amazing considering that Fleischer Studios had lost its way quite badly in the early 40s. The very good cartoons included 'Olive's Sweepstake Ticket' and 'Olive's Boithday Presink'. There were though a couple of disappointments, those being 'Popeye Meets Rip Van Winkle' and 'I'll Never Crow Again' which had their moments but didn't feel like Popeye.

'Nix on Hynoptricks' is the last cartoon from the 1941 batch and is one of the best Popeye cartoons from that year, also one of the funniest and visually interesting. It had one of the most creative concepts of the 1941 Popeye cartoons and the execution is the opposite of ordinary while not being innovative. Have not seen a more entertaining depiction of hypnosis and its effects in quite some time and could tell that everybody involved had fun.

It's not perfect. Am another person who wasn't too crazy about the character design of the hypnotist, a bit overdone on the weirdness to me.

While having nothing against Margie Hines as a voice actress, she never quite worked for me in general as Olive (Mae Questel is the only Olive voice actress that did anything for me). While not too mature like Bonnie Poe was, Hines never quite fitted Olive's character design and lacks Questel's energy.

A lot is great. The animation is neatly and expressively drawn (especially in the hynopsis visuals) and still very much like the work that goes into the backgrounds. Even better is the music, which is fantastic throughout. It is like its own character and is so beautifully and characterfully orchestrated, it gels so well with what goes on and enhances it even (which is what has always been great about the music in the series, even later on).

Jack Mercer displays everything that shows how his voicing for Popeye being so well regarded is richly deserved, he is the most prolific of the voice actors, the one to embody his personality the most and nobody did asides and mumblings quite like him. The story, while simple, is also not as predictable as other Popeye cartoons. The gags are numerous and they are often very funny and timed beautifully, primarily Popeye's physical comedy and stunts. Pace wise, there is a lot of energy throughout and it is never dull.

Overall, very well done and one of the year's best for the series. 8/10.