A Dream Walking

...if, like me, you're not a fan of the two-fisted sailor, this is the Popeye cartoon for you. A charming, beautifully paced and timed, low-key adventure in which a sleeping Olive Oyl serenely paces the precarious rails of an under-construction skyscraper, blissfully oblivious to the fact that Popeye and Bluto are battling each other to a standstill for the right to be the one who saves her. Olive never misses a beat of her song (the classic "[Did You Ever See] A Dream Walking") despite stepping into and out of the most harrowing close calls, and makes it home and back to bed safely all by herself despite her would-be rescuers' noisy efforts. Just a delightful cartoon. (Don't miss the moment in which Popeye and Bluto, temporarily knocked dizzy, join her in sleepwalking and they negotiate a three-way intersection with split-second timing.)

Sometimes a theme song, so to speak, accompanies these early Popeye cartoons, and that's the case here as we listen to "Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking?"

Well, Popeye does here with Olive Oyl. So does Bluto. These two spot Olive outside walking on a flagpole and on the roof of their high-rise building and both vow "to save her." In this episode, both guys have rooms on the second-to-the-top floors and Olive lives on the top floor. Both guys have Olive's picture above their bed and Olive has both guys' photos above hers! Yes, this is the first of instance of many years of fickleness by Olive. Prior to this, the first 14 cartoons had Olive strictly interested in Popeye only. As the years went on, she played the two guys against each other all the time.

Tons of sight gags make this an excellent Popeye cartoon. Olive taking giant strides from rooftop to rooftop to a construction sight are very good; the shots the two guys trying to save her are clever....very clever with all three of them sleepwalking on the high beams at one point. You really have to see this as a description doesn't quite do it justice. The ending, though, isn't justice for poor Popeye.

This was a hoot to watch and looked fantastic on that restored DVD package of cartoons featuring Popeye from 1933 to 1938. They did great job from the master prints of these theatrical releases.

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones 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.

1934's 'A Dream Walking' is agreed among the best Popeye cartoons. Making something creative and entertaining out of sleepwalking (not always easy to make interesting) and never less than very funny, its best parts being hilarious. Have always enjoyed many of the Popeye cartoons a good deal and like Popeye very much, Fleischer's efforts were always well animated and scored with lots of entertainment value and great chemistry between Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto. 'A Dream Walking' has everything that makes the Popeye series so appealing in its prime era and does nothing to waste the characters or make them less interesting.

The story is an interesting and beautifully paced one, never being dull, if formulaic (not uncommon with the Popeye cartoons). The humour and gags make it even more entertaining, 'A Dream Walking' makes sleepwalking fun to watch, imaginative and interesting, avoiding the trap of repetition. The part with Popeye and Bluto's temporary dizziness is the highlight, very funny, very imaginative and with some very clever visuals.

All the characters are great, though Olive Oyl's material not as great as Popeye and Bluto's (she is well used though). Those two are spot on and their chemistry drives 'A Dream Walking' and has so much energy. Popeye is always amusing and likeable but for me Bluto is here the funnier and more interesting character.

Furthermore, the animation is beautifully drawn and with enough visual detail to not make it cluttered or static and lively and smooth movement. The music is also outstanding, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish. Fleischer's direction is always accomplished and his style is all over it.

Voice acting is dynamic and of very good quality, Mae Questel is a good fit for Olive Oyl, the voice that most sticks in my mind for the character and who voiced her the best, but William Costello (have a preference for Jack Mercer though, who made much more of Popeye's mumblings and asides) and especially William Pennell are even better and give Popeye and Bluto so much life.

Overall, classic Popeye. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Dream Walking, A (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Olive Oyl begins sleepwalking and heads for a construction site so Popeye and Bluto fight over who will get to save her. Here's a pretty good short that gets risen a few levels by the clever imagination from director Fleischer. The construction site is full of nice gags including a nice sequence where Popeye runs into Wimpy who is working as a watchman. Naturally, Wimpy is more interested in his hamburgers than anything else. The film has a terrific ending with Olive's reaction when she finally wakes up. Early in the film there's a scene with Olive in bed, which is surrounded by pictures of both Popeye and Bluto. This film must have been released before the Hayes Office really started pushing their moral issues on film and the "pre-code" era as this is something that wouldn't have been passed.

Though nowadays people think of Warner Brothers and MGM as the top rivals to Disney (with a great deal of justification, to be sure) in the early 1930s, Fleischer Studios more than held their own against the Mouse. Technically, their work was as good or nearly so most of the time. There was also an antic lunacy to much of their work that had been part of animation since the silent days. That lunacy was and is not part of what Disney wanted, preferring to go to a more touching, somewhat realistic approach in the mid-1930s. Compare Steamboat Willie to The Old Mill and you'll understand what I mean. While Betty Boop was more inclined towards the bizarre or unusual, Popeye could throw in some lunacy as well. A Dream Walking is visually an incredible piece of work and a strange cartoon into the bargain. Throw in a great script and story and you have, if not the best, certainly one of the top three, Popeyes of all time. Too bad Fleischer Studios isn't more generally remembered for their excellent work. Well worth looking for. Most highly recommended.