Popeye Meets William Tell

Popeye Meets William Tell is one of several animated shorts in which our favorite sailor meets with a classic literary or folktale character. In this one, Popeye pretends to be Tell's son after the king demands to see William's arrow-through-apple trick. There's some chuckle-inducing banter about who should hit whom. There's also a funny gag involving a photo of Groucho Marx with his trademark "moving eyebrows" and some choice "anti-smoking" punchlines that might amuse some PC watchers though some of the results may also make them cringe. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this one Popeye cartoon that James "Shamus" Culhane directed and recommend it to any of his fans.

'Popeye Meets William Tell' is something of a change of pace for the Popeye theatrical series, certainly at this point. And it is not just because it is one of the ones concerning Popeye's endeavours with real life/literary characters (others in the series including Sinbad and Rip Van Winkle). It is even more so interesting for being one of the few Popeye cartoons to not feature any other, besides Popeye, single regular/recurring character, is wackier than the usual Popeye cartoon at this point and one of the few to have a message of some kind.

Despite not being close to being one of my favourites of the series or of the work Fleischer Studios did overall, 'Popeye Meets William Tell' does a nice job with its premise, is very entertaining and is quite interesting. It may not be a great cartoon, or one of the series' funniest or most imaginative, but 'Popeye Meets William Tell' was interesting and entertaining to see such a wacky, more absurd to usual side to the character and the series.

Of course it is far from perfect. Do agree about an explanation for why Popeye was in England and during this period being necessary, and do think that it was a shame that that wasn't explored as it would have made things a little less absurd than it turned out. While the wackiness was generally fun, the action did get a little too weird in spots from the silliness going into overkill.

It is agreed too that 'Popeye Meets William Tell' could have done with more laughs. It's certainly not devoid of any but there are not many that are that inspired or hilarious.

On the other hand, 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. 'Popeye Meets William Tell' is far from flawless in the humour, but the snappy asides are very funny and the sight gags generally are fun, such as the photo of Groucho Marx one and the arrow scene.

The story is not great by any stretch, but it did interest at least and had a lot of energy. Had never seen William Tell portrayed this way, more exaggerated than the usual noble character he's portrayed as (i.e. Rossini's opera) and his interaction with Popeye is wonderfully sharp and wacky. The voice acting is on point. The anti-smoking message is not laid on too thick and very ahead of the time at this point, at a time where smoking was even more common than it is now. Being a non-smoker and someone who personally hates it, it was appreciated.

Concluding, a little overkill on the weirdness and silliness but mostly very entertaining with quite a number of interest points. 7/10.

This a strange Popeye cartoon, one involving a famous character from history.....but this isn't history! It' revisionist history in it's most absurd form, involving a wacky English "High Governor," William Tell and Popeye. What Popeye was doing over in England and in that period of history, is never explained. There is no Olive Oyl or any of the "normal" Popeye character, just these exaggerated characters from another age.

Our Sailor Man is justing by, minding his own business, when an arrow nearly takes his head off. Popeye turns back, spots this nerdy-looking little guy with a squeaky voice who turns out to be the famous "William Tell." "Well, blow me down!" says Popeye upon learning this. The two exchange verbal unpleasantries and then the story gets really weird. One thing leads to another and it winds up, with Popeye pretending to be Tell's son and standing next to a tree doing the famous shoot-the-apple-off-the-son's head-routine. All kinds of mayhem ensue with a couple of shocking surprises (including that famous arrow scene) and a few very good sight gags.

It's kind of stupid and outrageous but it is fun for the most part and very entertaining. You won't believe some of the goofy material that's in this cartoon.

There is a good message, however, and way ahead of it's time: it concerns the evils of smoking. Popeye evens puts that message into his usual song finale, although he never put it into practice. As far as I know, Popeye always smoked his pipe!

Popeye Meets William Tell (1940)

** (out of 4)

After narrowly avoiding Popeye with an arrow, William Tell tells him that he's looking for his missing son. Soon the two are teaming up against a cruel King.

POPEYE MEETS WILLIAM TELL is one of the weaker films from the series for a number of reasons but the biggest is the fact that it really doesn't contain any laughs. Basically the majority of the six-minute running time has Popeye and Tell arguing with one another and there's also no good action or anything else for that matter. Fans will find it mildly amusing but that's about it.

Popeye is in Switzerland and meets up with William Tell, the great archer, famous for shooting an apple off his son's head. The king is offended by the archer and decides to have him beheaded. Popeye gets into the act because he doesn't want to see harm come to Tell. It's a pretty weak effort all told.