A Jolly Good Furlough

Popeye discovers it's more relaxing fighting WWII than being home with his nephews. That twisted message should tell you something about this lame Popeye effort.

The poor sailor is anxious to see Olive and the little ones, but all they do is run over him (Olive, with a car) and torment him (the kids, with their Home Defense Program tests - with Popeye as the victim.)

Generally, the artwork was poor and the jokes lame. I miss the days when the Fleischer Brothers did these cartoons; they were far better. Popeye even gets a little mean-spirited at the end, when he shoots the messenger. No wonder a popular expression over the last half century is, "Hey, I'm only the messenger."

This cartoon with Popeye the Sailor is another cartoon made when the United States were in a war with Japan. It is a racist cartoon, but you can not really judge it that way since it was made back then. Even today people make fun of people when they are in war with them.

Popeye is fighting the war against the Japanese but he gets a furlough. When he gets home all he wants to do is rest a little but that seems impossible. First Olive hits him a couple of times with the car and then his nephews show him their own "Home Defense Program". They show him and also test it on him making sure he will not rest very much.

The racist part is in the middle where the nephews ask Popeye whether he killed some Japanese people (Japs). The nephews impersonate the Japanese in a racist way, but I have to say it is also a very funny part. Other parts are pretty nice as well since Popeye is the biggest victim here. This time spinach can not save him. Entertaining enough.

This wartime Popeye cartoon begins with Popeye taking on a fort full of Japanese soldiers and single-handedly wiping them out! As a result of this and other great acts of heroism, Popeye is granted leave--and he goes home. However, Olive is too busy with the war effort and the boys (Peepeye, Pipeye, Poopeye and Pupeye) entertain him by showing off what they've learned about home defense, camouflage and the like. In the process they end up beating the snot out of Popeye--and so he rushes back to the war in order to get some peace and quiet.

Overall, this is a good WWII propaganda film--clever and able to make some good points about the war effort at home. My only complaint is the oddly drawn messenger bird. It looks like it was made by another studio and is oddly animated. But, it's a minor quibble.

Popeye is fighting against the Japanese enemy when he gets a couple of weeks off to see his family. He decides to visit his 4 nephews, who began a 'home defence' program on their own. They decide to try it on Popeye himself so he gets slapped around, beaten and kicked by his nephews so hard, he decided to go back to the ocean to fight the Japanese again. Anything's better than this bunch!

This short propaganda film isn't as racist or offensive as others, except for the moment Popeye's nephews ask him: 'Did you kill any Japs, uncle Popeye?' and he answers: 'yes, we're all doing our duty!'.

But mostly it's just slapstick-comedy, quite entertaining I must say: 7/10.

Popeye is fighting the Japanese single-handedly. After sinking a Japanese island base, he gets mail granting him an one month leave. He goes home to see Olive and his nephews. It's not very restful as Olive runs him over with her car before the nephews get their hands on him. This is Popeye during the war years. He is very much part of the propaganda fight. It may or may not be effective. The basic premise has comedic potential but I don't know if it's good propaganda.