King of the Mardi Gras

................."KING OF THE MARDI GRAS, you say ? Right !!

IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, sports fans, this cable station has been doing a fine job in living up to their name for years. This showing of the Max & Dave Fleischer b & w Popeye cartons from the 1930's is just one aspect of their on going efforts. With that sort of written bouquet having been presented, let's get on with this review !

IN FOLLOWING WITH the precedent that has been set, the short puts the 4 regulars of Popeye, Olive, Bluto and Wimpy into yet another setting to do their thing. This time we have what has been called "Mardi Gras" : although it is indeed a highly e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d version of the annual "Fat Tuesday" New Orleans celebration.

TO PROVIDE THE proper venue for Popeye and Bluto to enter into their struggle and fistfight involving fair maiden, Miss Olive Oyl, the boys are rival sideshow acts. The eternal triangle is much in evidence as their fisticuffs extend across what seems to be half the fairgrounds and onto the very intricate and impossibly curvaceous Roller-coaster,

WELL, NEEDLES TO say, the short, balding, red-headed, one eyed sailor is triumphant in the end. His handy in shirt can of spinach saves the day.

THERE IS MUCH to recommend this entry into the series. Opening scene does feature what is a reasonable of a Mardi Gras street scene. (Although we cannot this with certainty; having never witnessed it with the naked eye.) The effect is accomplished with a rich array of costumed revelers lining the street, cheering and otherwise whooping it up. Its effect is enhanced with the use of the Fleischer Brothers patented Table Top Animation process; in which there is an extreme use of animation of moving both the human characters as well as the background. (musta been very expensive for a short !)

ALL CONSIDERED AND from what we've seen, 1935 surely is the very zenith of quality for Popeye on the screen. KING OF THE MARDI GRAS has to be "top shelf" in that year.

Whan Olive becomes the point of contention between Bluto and Popeye, things heat up on the roller coaster. All the action evolves around the narrow tracks as three cars zoom around at a breakneck clip. It's just a chase until Bluto starts to go after Olive and begins punching Popeye. Then an intermediary intervenes.

"Bluto The Great" does it all - at least at the Mardi Gras, where signs are all over proclaiming that Bluto will walk a high wire while swallowing 20 knives. Then, he's dive 100 feet in a "thimbleful" of water while shaving at the same time! Wow, that's what I call a great act.

Before that, he even entertains the big crowd around him by singing, "I Am King Of the Mardi Gras." Popeye is nearby singing "I Am Popeye The Sailor Man" but he has no crowd listening to him, except for Wimby eating a hamburger.

Both songs are the same melody; just different lyrics. One of the lyrics Bluto sings mentions "I am the king here at Coney," meaning Coney Island, off New York City. There is a big amusement park with a roller-coaster in the background. So....is the New York or is it New Orleans? Did Coney Island host a "Mardi Gras Day" or was this a mistake? I suspect the former, just a day at Coney celebrating Mardi Gras.

At any rate, the cartoon offers a little of everything: songs, humor and a ton of sight gags, from tattoos that come to life to some incredibly wild magic tricks to an amazing three-minute chase scene on the big coaster.

All in all, as you can, tell was an extremely entertaining Popeye episode.

Like to love a lot of what Dave Fleischer and Fleischer Studios did. They did cartoons that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

'King of the Mardi Gras', made during the prime period of the Popeye cartoons, is not one of the best or funniest Popeye cartoons for me. It though is still very good if at times more very amusing rather than hilarious. Have always enjoyed many of the Popeye cartoons a good deal and have always liked Popeye as a character, Fleischer's efforts were always well animated and scored with lots of entertainment value and great chemistry between Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto. A vast majority of what made prime Popeye is here in 'King of the Mardi Gras'. It is a good example of why Fleischer's cartoons, even the lesser ones, are better, funnier and more consistent in quality than those of Famous Studios, with the wartime and late 50s cartoons being particularly variable

The story is formulaic and slight, with the beginning not quite having the same amount of energy as the rest of the cartoons, though it didn't ever get repetitive. The humour and gags are well timed and didn't come over as lazy to me, even if they varied in whether they were amusing or more. The coaster chase is the clear highlight and the increasing wildness is immense fun to watch.

Great fun the characters are on the whole, though Olive is underused and her material is not in the same as Popeye and Bluto's. Those two are spot on and their chemistry drives 'King of the Mardi Gras' and has so much energy. Popeye is as amusing and likeable but for me Bluto is here the funnier and more interesting character, which he actually tends to be in the Popeye cartoons. Wimpy is always worth watching and is hardly wasted.

Furthermore, the animation is nicely done with enough visual detail to not make it cluttered or static and lively and smooth movement The music is even better, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish. The songs are wonderful here with clever lyrics as well as being catchy, all without getting on the nerves. Fleischer's direction is always accomplished and his style is all over it.

Voice acting is dynamic and of very good quality on the most part, Jack Mercer was the longest-serving Popeye for good reason, asides and mumblings have seldom been funnier, while cannot imagine a better Olive than Mae Questel. Gus Wickie also gives Bluto so much life.

Concluding, very good if not quite great. 8/10

King of the Mardi Gras (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Popeye and Bluto are working at Coney Island as sideshow's and soon the two are fighting over Olive Oyl. This is one of the lesser entries in the series but it's still mildly entertaining. I found most of the writing to be rather lazy compared to other shorts in the series and I really didn't laugh to much at the situations or the fights. The highlight of the film would have to be when the three characters are on a roller coaster but even this doesn't deliver too many laughs.

On DVD from Warner.