Shakespearian Spinach

Shakespearian Spinach (1940)

*** (out of 4)

It's a big night on Broadway as Popeye is set to play Romeo to Olive Oyl's Juliette. The only problem is when Bruto arrives at the theater and learns that he has been fired as Romeo.

This is a pretty entertaining short for the series that once again features some terrific animation and there are plenty of nice laughs scattered throughout the film as well. There are many good moments but the highlight has to be the beating that Bluto gives Popeye as he's dressed up as Juliette. Yes, Popeye gets to go in drag here and it makes for a pleasant short that's certainly worth watching.

When Bluto discovers that he has been fired from the production of ROME AND JULIET, he determines to sabotage the production, take back the role and beat the tar out of Popeye. However, the production is at the Spinach Theater, and, well....

There are the usual large assortment of gags, big and little, from lifting the songs from MARTA to the writing on the asbestos safety curtain, that this turns into a pretty good example of the Fleischer Brothers' era of Popeye cartoons. Pinto Colvig's voicing of Bluto is a higher register than usual, but his brutality remains undimmed, even int he face of the theater audience's indifference to the fighting.

Almost all of this cartoon is a reenactment of "Romeo and Juliet," but certainly not any version you've seen! Much of the cartoon is sung and hearing Olive Oyl (Margie Hines) and Popeye (Jack Mercer) and then Bluto (Pinto Colvig) is like hearing chalk on a blackboard. Yikes, this is a tough cartoon on one's ears! It's amazing the people in the audience clapped at the end. In real life, they would have reacted quite negatively.

Speaking of voice, I guess this is as good a spot as any to say I miss Mae Questel as the voice of Olive Oyl. She was fantastic in that voice and Hines, try as she might, is no match for her. Fortunately, after Hines did about 30 of these Popeye cartoons, Questel came back and did many from the mid '40s to 1961.

The same can be said for Colvig, who doesn't sound like the Bluto we all know and love.....er, hate. He doesn't have (the former Bluto) Gus Wickie's gruffness and deep voice. In Popeye's latter days, 1950s and 1960s, Jackson Beck did a super job as Bluto, who also had his name changed to "Brutus." Colvig is definitely the weakest of the three.

Anyway, the cartoon is basically singing and the two boys beating each other up, both trying to be Romeo and win the heart of Juliet. At least Popeye gets in as many punches as Bluto, which usually isn't the case - only the big ones at the end. Here, these guys just pulverize each other and it gets boring after awhile. It's not one of the better Popeye cartoons, believe me.

Popeye and Bluto are rivals for the lead in Romeo and Juliet. Of course, Olive Oyl is Juliet. Popeye starts out OK but the big guy (of course) intercedes. Guess what! There is a fist fight and Bluto is winning, thrashing our sailor man. Then, what the heck. Some spinach appears. What will happen? Not much new here, but then there seldom was.

Really like to love a lot of Fleischer's work, the mid/late-30s Popeye cartoons, some of the earlier "Color Classics" cartoons and pre-code Betty Boop (the Koko cartoons too) being some of their best work. It was very sad though drastically that they declined drastically in the early 40s, but although none of the 40s Fleischer Popeyes came close to the best of their previous work they were still a lot better than most of their output from this period.

That is true for the cartoon that started off the 1940 output 'Shakespearian Spinach'. Far from being among the studio's best work, but not indicative of their decline or anywhere near their worst (the "Stone Age", "Animated Antics", the worst of "Color Classics" and Gabby cartoons are much bigger indicators of all that). While not considering it a great cartoon, still consider 'Shakespearian Spinach' a pretty, well worth watching one with a lot to like.

Am very mixed on the voice acting. Have no problem with Jack Mercer, he is the definitive voice actor for Popeye. Margie Hines though never seemed to be the right fit somehow for Olive, not having Mae Questel's charm and the character design is suggestive of a younger-sounding voice needed. Had more of an issue with Pinto Colvig (like him though in other things), who is just not sinister-sounding enough for Bluto and somehow it was difficult to forget that this was the original voice of Goofy voicing this larger than life and both menacing and funny (he does funny well, not so much the menacing) character.

Maybe it could have benefitted from a tighter pace.

However, the animation is neatly and expressively drawn (especially with Popeye) and still very much like the work that goes into the backgrounds. The music, appropriately like its own character, is as beautifully orchestrated and characterful as ever. The dialogue is a lot of fun to listen to, most of it sung and the lyrics at their best are quite genius. Olive for a while did not have material this funny than when she is with Bluto.

While there isn't really anything that one calls hilarious in 'Shakespearian Spinach' it is still worth seeing to hear Olive's lyrics, see Popeye as a woman (quite a picture) and to see Shakespeare being hammed up so entertainingly and brilliantly for any cartoon. The story is not much new but still a lot of energy. All three characters are handled very well.

Summarising, pretty decent for Fleischer's weakest period but not one of the best of the series. 7/10