Parlez Vous Woo

Parlez Vous Woo (1956)

*** (out of 4)

Olive Oyl is enjoying the romantic show "The International" when the leading man shows up to sweep her off her feet. Soon Popeye gets jealous and the two men do battle.

This here is another winning short from the series and this one here managed to be quite funny with some creative site gags but it also managed to have a very good twist at the end, which I obviously won't spoil. The highlight is a very funny sequence where Popeye explains to Olive Oyl that he can be "ro-man-tic-cal" as well as anyone. The line delivery is just priceless as is the scene where she turns Olive Oyl into a block of ice. Fans of the series will find plenty of laughs throughout.

A romantic cartoon in which Bluto disguises himself as "The International", Olive Oyl's favorite, suave television star. He does such a great job wooing her, thoroughly turning her on, and even beating Popeye in a duel for her hand that one wonders why she's so upset when she finds out who he really is. Wouldn't a more realistic response be, "Bluto Honey, let's go over to the love seat and you can pretend to be the International again"? This cartoon is the culmination of the Paramount/Famous Studios' re-vamp of Olive to make her more attractive. Here she is, by cartoon standards, drop dead gorgeous.

The red dress of Olive, the jealousy of Popeye are the best details of this lovely short animation about seduction of radio show, the adversary in the clothes of the fake hero and the romantic effects of...spinach. So, The International in the best form..

Olive Oyl is entranced by "The International", a radio Lothario personality with a French accent. The International suggests that the ladies stay in and wait for a possible visit from him. Olive refuses to go out with Popeye in order to wait. Bluto overhears this and pretends to be The International.

Why doesn't she recognize Bluto? It's the Superman conundrum where nobody seems to recognize that he's Clark Kent. At least, Clark has his glasses. Bluto only puts on a suit. I don't see how Olive would mistake him for an imaginary character that she's never seen. I was hoping that she doesn't know Bluto in this reality but that's not the case. It's Superman but worst. Why can't they put a mask on Bluto? As for the concept, it's silly but it fits the sometimes flightiness of Olive. At least, it's a rarely done concept.

Olive is being wooed by a Charles Boyer-type Frenchmen who is dishing out the compliments about how whatever woman (Olive thinks it's her, of course) is listening. Popeye is nearby getting annoyed hearing all this garbage. He's waiting to take her out to the movies, but she's more interesting in watching Bluto then comes by, spots what is happening through the open window (he was a terrible Peeping Tom) and is mad. "Why that runt got here before me," he says when he spots Popeye.

OIive is really entranced by the TV program host, called 'The Internationale," especially when the Frenchman says, "Stay at home tonight, ladies. You may be the lucky one, the woman 'The Internationale' comes by and takes you out." Bluto overhears this and, yes, he is going to pretend to be the guy from TV.

Bluto is hilarious impersonating the French guy and fooling the naive and dumb Olive. In fact, from that point on, this is an extremely funny cartoon with tons of sight gags. Popeye uses two cans of spinach to produce laughs.....and get Olive back from that fraud Bluto. It's the usual case, but sometimes Bluto is the finniest guy in the cartoon. That certainly is the case here.