Swimmer Take All

Popeye and Bluto compete in a cross-Channel swimming race. Not only must Popeye deal with natural problems like giant fish that try to eat him, but Bluto cheats.

The gag construction in this cartoon is up to par for the old hands at Famous Studios. However, as I have remarked before, I am bored by the constant repetition of the formula that they had fallen into, not only with the Popeye cartoons, but their other series. With the shrinking budgets, they had little choice. Popeye was a mainstay of the studio, but even a major star will suffer when put in too many too similar vehicles. Famous Studios released eight Popeye cartoons in 1952. This is a run-of-the-mill one.

This isn't the worst Famous Studios Popeye short, not by a long shot. Far worse came several years down the road, when the staff seemed to stop really even trying to be even mildly entertaining. The problem with this one is that it isn't very funny-or much fun either. In spite of the three best voice actors the primary characters had in the series-Beck, Questal and the great Jack Mercer-the script and story are flat, the backgrounds not bad, but nothing to write home about, no real life in the gags, nothing memorable about the short to make it worth watching twice. Not bad enough to poke fun at, really. It's just there, nothing more. Any cartoon with Jack Mercer doing Popeye can't be all bad and this one has moments-but too few. I just wish it was funny. For completeists only.

The early-30s Popeye cartoons were good, the best ones very good, if with a slight finding the feet feel understandable. The mid/late-30s cartoons were the series' best period with most of the best Popeye cartoons being made in it. The early-40s output were interesting and mostly solid. Those from the late-40s were more mixed, ranging from just scraping average to good. The early-50s likewise. With exceptions, the late-50s saw a big decline for the studio and the series didn't quite feel the same either, feeling rushed-looking and a running out of ideas feel.

With 1952's 'Swimmer Take All', made in one of the Popeye series' mixed periods (a very mixed period for Famous Studios too), there is not an awful lot else to add to what has been said already in a hit it on the head way. It is not an awful cartoon, it has its moments and it is functional enough, but there is just very little that leaps out. Which gives 'Swimmer Take All' a bland feel, which is as bad as being over-familiar and repetitive (the cartoon suffers from both those things too) on top of other reservations with the material.

'Swimmer Take All' as said has its good moments/things. The animation still looks like effort and care was being made, there may have been more budget and time limitations at this point but unlike the late-50s that is not as obvious here. There are rough moments in the drawing but the backgrounds have a lot of vibrant colour and meticulous detail. The music is one of the consistent high points of the 50s Famous Studios output (Popeye and overall), and it is one of the best things here. The lively character of it is just infectious and it has an energy that the rest of the cartoon lacks, while the orchestration is as beautiful as ever.

Although any amusement is too far and between, there are moments. The magnet gag comes off best. Bluto is a compelling character and while his and Popeye's antagonistic chemistry has had much more freshness before there is fun and tension. Don't have any problem with the voice acting, have never failed to love Jack Mercer as Popeye and nobody voiced the character better.

It is sad though that the story, pace and most of the gags don't deliver. The story is little more than the basic Popeye vs Bluto formula with not an awful lot of variety, actually found it very predictable and repetitive. The pacing never comes to life here either, which made those story problems even less overlookable. Other Popeye cartoons increased on the wildness and had exciting final thirds. That's not the case with 'Swimmer Take All', actually thought it had run out of gas in terms of pace and material.

Popeye himself does not have much material of note, all the amusing gags come from Bluto, so he was a touch bland. The amusing moments as said were too infrequent and are only mildly so, most of the gags here are tired and add further to the running out of ideas feel. The cement gag especially feels recycled.

Overall, very little leaps out here but there is just about enough to warrant a one-time watch. 5/10

It's the Channel Swim competition between Popeye and Bluto. Olive Oyl is cheering for Popeye. Of course, Bluto does plenty of cheating. It's the standard Popeye trio. It's the times of Famous Studios. The animation looks a little rougher and less appealing. The story isn't anything new but it works well within the franchise. It's a solid Popeye cartoon.