A Haul in One

Popeye and Bluto are actually in business together, as movers. We first see them moving cars to get their truck through to Olive Oyl's apartment building. Olive is having a difficult time trying to pack, getting literally bounced through the ceiling and her head through the bathroom sink, plus other assorted strange sights.

When Popeye and Bluto arrive, she still isn't even close to finishing her packing. When Olive answers the door, the two guys are star-struck. You'd think they'd seen the most beautiful woman in the world. Then, the competition starts. So much for partnership!

No matter what Bluto does, Popeye tops him with some incredible feats (and very funny). "Why, dat show off," says a frustrated Bluto. Popeye is so strong, so good at this that Olive swoons and says, "Ohhh, what a man!!"

The ending is a bit silly but overall this was a lot of fun to watch as Popeye outdid himself with super-human feats.

A Haul in One (1956)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Olive Oyl is moving so she hires a couple men to come move her stuff. Of course it turns out to be Popeye and Bluto and before long they're both showing off trying to win her approval.

A HAUL IN ONE has a clever title and a few creative moments but for the most part it's certainly not one of the best films from the series. I think the best thing going for the film are a couple creative scenes where Popeye and Bluto are trying to out-do each other by packing and carrying more items. While a few of these are creative I'd be lying if I said they were funny. The animation is nice as you'd expect but there's no question that more laughs were needed.

Popeye and Bluto are, believe it or not, pals and partners in a moving company.

(Maybe it's because Popeye isn't squinting here.)

Anyhow, Olive has made the mistake of hiring them.

She hasn't finished packing yet, so the boys, smitten as soon as she answers the door, compete to help her.

Once packed, they compete to move more impressive piles of her belongings.

Popeye easily wins these contests, even though Bluto locks him in the van at one point.

At the end, Bluto socks Popeye into the piano, then into a table; though he hardly seems to need it, Popeye still eats his spinach, then thrashes Bluto.

Very 50s animation which means it sucks.

Certainly no the grand original Fleischer stuff!.

Still it's watchable

With just a few more Popeye cartoons to produce before their license lapsed, the people at Famous Studios put little effort into this one about Olive Oyl moving and Popeye & Bluto being her movers and competing for her admiration.

Character design, background art, and animation have been cut to the minimum, and the gags have lost all relationship to reality; not only are laws of physics broken willy-nilly, but characters' skeletons come and go for the sake of mediocre gags, until the inevitable point when Popeye opens a can of spinach by squeezing it until it pops like a pimple, and we're done.

The basic question remains about the women beauty taste of Popeye and Bluto. But , off course, it becomes only a detail in the effort of botyh to proof their high art of moving to seductive Olive. In many senses, the first scenes, in whih the adversaries are good coworkers are just seductive.