Spooky Swabs

Popeye and Olive are calming playing checkers while sitting on a small raft in the middle of the turbulent ocean. A flag with an "SOS" on it is attached to the raft. They spot a ship, Olive exclaims "Oh, now I can go home and watch television (which was a fairly new invention when this cartoon was released) and Popeye uses his pipe as motor to reach the ship. Unfortunately, it's a pirate ship called the "Sea Witch" and is filled with ghosts (since the ship was built in 1678).

The ghosts - with British accents - don't want to be interrupted "after all these years," so they plan to get rid of the unwanted guests. There are some funny scenes, such as Popeye using a swordfish as a saw, Olive's "swimming" on board, thinking she's in the ocean because he blindfolded head is in a bucket of water.

Overall, however, it isn't much: "fair," at best with primitive-looking artwork and no restoration on the DVD disc. This is part of the 75th Anniversary Collector's Edition of Popeye The Sailor Man in which there are 34 cartoons spread among two discs.

This is an unusual Popeye, as besides it being his last meant for the theaters, this Popeye has no Bluto in it! I'm giving this a high mark because of the story twist and also because I remember watching it as a kid over and over in reruns. I still remembered that not only is there no Bluto in this one, but also the bad guys all speak with an "English" cockney accent! Luckily for Popeye, he finds some 400 year old spinach and that, along with Olive's help, takes out the ghosts in no time. The animation is not the best, but still not bad considering the time it was made and much better then the 1960s Popeyes. I watched this on the MeTV show Tune in With Me which I find amusing with the cartoon host skits in between the toons. To make it an interesting show they played several "last of" cartoons like Bugs "last" between the 1960s and 1990 and Chuck Jones last Road Runner cartoon as well!

A ship of XVII century. A great group of ghosts. And the war between them and Popeye , Olive Oye . Amusing adventures, fine solution to win. And the love as best reality. The simpliity of ghosts as basic virtue of this short animation.

Spooky Swabs (1957)

** (out of 4)

The final theatrical Popeye short has him and Olive Oyl on a raft lost at sea when they come across a boat. They get on the boat and are quickly harassed by a bunch of bored ghosts.

It's really too bad that this wonderful series had to go out on such a sour note. Especially when you consider that the previous short, SPREE LUNCH was so great. This episode is pretty lame in regards to its story, its action and the lack of any real laughs just makes it rather forgettable. I'm sure the fact that it's the last Popeye short will have people curious but sadly there's just nothing here. The only good and creative moment comes at the very end when we see what the ghosts are used for after Popeye gets his way.

Popeye and Olive are shipwrecked on a raft in the open ocean. They spot a ship, the Sea Witch. When they get onboard, nobody seems to be there. Instead, it has a crew of ghosts. Popeye intends to sail the ship back to civilization, but the ghosts have other ideas.

This is the last release from Famous Studios and the end of an era. I like this one more than most of the Famous Studios production. Popeye is an actual sailor in this one. I like the ghosts design which reminds me of many cartoons from the 60's and 70's. I even like the animation which has that old TV feel. The story is simple. It works.