A Haul in One

Popeye and Bluto are, believe it or not, pals and partners in a moving company.

(Maybe it's because Popeye isn't squinting here.)

Anyhow, Olive has made the mistake of hiring them.

She hasn't finished packing yet, so the boys, smitten as soon as she answers the door, compete to help her.

Once packed, they compete to move more impressive piles of her belongings.

Popeye easily wins these contests, even though Bluto locks him in the van at one point.

At the end, Bluto socks Popeye into the piano, then into a table; though he hardly seems to need it, Popeye still eats his spinach, then thrashes Bluto.

Very 50s animation which means it sucks.

Certainly no the grand original Fleischer stuff!.

Still it's watchable

The movers are coming and Olive Oyl hasn't finished packing. The movers arrive and it's Popeye and Bluto. The boys start competing in packing.

This is a colored Popeye short. I do not like the animation style. It's crude and ugly. It reminds me of the old Spiderman cartoons without the charm. Popeye has done much better. The story is fine. It's the classic triangle. I just don't like the drawing.

A Haul in One (1956)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Olive Oyl is moving so she hires a couple men to come move her stuff. Of course it turns out to be Popeye and Bluto and before long they're both showing off trying to win her approval.

A HAUL IN ONE has a clever title and a few creative moments but for the most part it's certainly not one of the best films from the series. I think the best thing going for the film are a couple creative scenes where Popeye and Bluto are trying to out-do each other by packing and carrying more items. While a few of these are creative I'd be lying if I said they were funny. The animation is nice as you'd expect but there's no question that more laughs were needed.

Really like to love a good deal of Popeye cartoons and like the character of Popeye. Love Bluto more and his chemistry with Popeye has always driven their cartoons. Will admit though to preferring the Popeye cartoons from the Dave Fleischer era, the cartoons tend to be funnier and there is more originality and more risk taking in some of them.

'A Haul in One' is a late Popeye cartoon and made in Famous Studios' roughest and most variable period where budgets were much smaller in particularly the animation and deadlines and time constraints were shorter and tighter. All things considered, while there are infinitely better Popeye cartoons (especially during the Fleischer era) and there are signs of what made this period an inferior one for Famous Studios, 'A Haul in One' is not a bad late Popeye cartoon at all and one of the better cartoons in Famous Studios' late output.

As to be expected, the story is standard and formulaic, all it is basically is Popeye and Bluto battling for Olive Oyl's affections with not as much variety as many other Popeye cartoons. Complete with an easy foreseeable ending. There could have been more gags too, the ones here are amusing and timed reasonably well, thankfully not being repetitive either, but they are never hilarious and it's not laugh-a-minute.

Similarly the animation quality is uneven, never terrible but never fantastic, most of the time though actually not bad. The colours are fine and there is smoothness and nice detail but there are some moments where the backgrounds are sparse and the drawing rough.

What is fantastic about 'A Haul in One' is the music score, the best thing for me. It's beautifully orchestrated, rhythmically it's full of energy and there is so much character and atmosphere, it's also brilliant at adding to the action and enhancing it. The gags are executed well, the interplay between the characters is lively and witty if in need of more variety and the pace is never dull.

The three main characters do a great job carrying the cartoon, Bluto being the funniest and most interesting. Olive Oyl is a good charming character where you can totally see what Popeye sees in her, but it's the entertaining interplay between Popeye and Bluto that really sparkles. Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and Jackson Beck give great vocal characterisations, Beck in particular and Mercer and Questel are the voice actors that spring to mind generally for me for Popeye and Olive's voices.

Concluding, decent if nothing mind-blowing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Popeye and Bluto are actually in business together, as movers. We first see them moving cars to get their truck through to Olive Oyl's apartment building. Olive is having a difficult time trying to pack, getting literally bounced through the ceiling and her head through the bathroom sink, plus other assorted strange sights.

When Popeye and Bluto arrive, she still isn't even close to finishing her packing. When Olive answers the door, the two guys are star-struck. You'd think they'd seen the most beautiful woman in the world. Then, the competition starts. So much for partnership!

No matter what Bluto does, Popeye tops him with some incredible feats (and very funny). "Why, dat show off," says a frustrated Bluto. Popeye is so strong, so good at this that Olive swoons and says, "Ohhh, what a man!!"

The ending is a bit silly but overall this was a lot of fun to watch as Popeye outdid himself with super-human feats.