Assault and Flattery

In Judge Wimpy's court, Bluto charges Popeye with attacking him and tossing him into a pig pen. In response, Popeye offers as testimony long clips of 1949's A BALMY SWAMI.

It's one of several techniques to produce a ''cheater', a cartoon that holds production costs down by cannibalizing an earlier movie. Here, as in many of the Popeye cartoons, it simply serves to show how much better the earlier cartoon was. Character designs are fuller in the earlier movie, and the background work is more detailed. True, this permits better work on the new sections, but the issues with the artwork are still not as good as they had been a mere four years earlier.

It's "the case of Bluto versus Popeye, with Judge Wimpy (eating a hamburger) presiding." It seems Bluto has enough "beatings," charging Popeye The Sailor Man with assault and battery.

Bluto comes to court bandaged from head to toe and gives his testimony. "He always beats me up for no reason," says poor Bluto. He then tells of two episodes in which Popeye crushed him. When Popeye protests each time, the only thing the judge can say is "Order in the court!" and then stuff another whole hamburger in his mouth.

The spinach-eating sailor man then gets on the stand to tell his story, the one where Bluto is a magician-hypnotist.

I get the feeling this was another of those 'toons that was mainly footage from past ones. If not, this is the normal entertaining short, but if it is - and you've seen the scenes shown here - then it's a waste of time. I hadn't seen anything shown here in this one, so it was fine....but nothing really laugh-out-loud funny in the final seconds.

Bluto takes Popeye to court for all the beatings. Wimpy is somehow the Judge. This is another clip show but at least, this one has a fun premise. It's funny to see Bluto wrapped in bandages. I want more from this premise. As always, clip shows are basically cheating the viewer of original content. I wouldn't mind Popeye being found guilty. Wimpy should definitely be Popeye's lawyer. This would be better if it gets rid of the clips.

Have always liked the Popeye series, loved even quite a lot of the cartoons from namely Fleischer Studios' late-30s period. Also like the character of Popeye very much especially his mumblings and asides and chemistry with Bluto (the latter of which being a huge part of the series' appeal, apart from the cartoons where Bluto doesn't appear). Am less of a fan of the cartoons, and cartoons in general actually, that are basically clips of previous cartoons with a framing story that isn't as interesting.

One of those cartoons is 1956's 'Assault and Flattery'. It is unique for its setting and the basic idea was great, but somehow it would have fared better as a cartoon that only had that story and didn't rely so much on the reused footage. Of this type of Popeye cartoons, the cartoon clips tend to be better than the framing story, but actually it's the opposite with 'Assault and Flattery'. Framing story-wise, it is one of the better "cheater" cartoons. When it comes to the reused footage, it is not one of the best.

'Assault and Flattery' does have quite a lot of good. The animation is bright and colourful throughout and despite saying that the animation quality isn't quite as good in the framing story it becomes closer than most compilation cartoons in being true in style to the clips as all three cartoons featured were only made a few years before. The music is typically fantastic throughout, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish.

The voice acting is very good, Jack Mercer sure does relish those mumblings and asides. Popeye and Bluto are a delight, as is Wimpy. The framing story is a lot of fun, with some amusing writing and a lively energy.

Conversely, the animation could have been smoother in the framing story. The cartoon could have done with more consistent freshness and there could have been a better selection of reused footage, plenty of gags and clips to choose from in the series.

Where 'Assault and Flattery' isn't so good is actually the reused footage this time. There are three cartoons used, 'The Farmer and the Belle', 'How Green is My Spinach' and 'A Balmy Swami'. Of the three, only one of them is good overall ('How Green is My Spinach') and 'How Green is My Spinach's' clip is the only great and inspired one.

Summing up, not bad but uneven. 6/10.

Assault and Flattery (1956)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Judge Wimpy is hearing a case brought on by Bluto who claims that he was beaten by Popeye for no reason. We then see flashbacks to three previous films in the series.

The Popeye series has several films during the 1950s where very little new footage was made and instead stories were just built around previous films. This here is another case of that because this borrows footage from three different movie and builds them around the court story. For the most part this here is mildly entertaining but I always think it's better to watch the original shorts in their full glory. There are some minor laughs here but nothing too funny.