Morning, Noon and Night Club

Have a fondness for many of Dave Fleischer's Popeye cartoons, and of Fleischer Studios' cartoons in general. The studios' cartoons are always impeccably well made, some of the animation techniques innovative and scored, for what they lacked in story and at times characters they more than made up for that by those elements and the natural charm and good nature of much of its prime period.

One of their best ever characters was Popeye, partnered with Olive Oyl and an even funnier and more interesting Bluto. At their best, their chemistry was great fun and often hilarious. 1937's 'Morning, Noon and Nightclub' was made during one of the best periods and one of the best years (a lot of the best Popeye cartoons were made in 1937 and in the late 30s) for the Popeye series. Of which for me it is one of the best from the period. No matter the slightness of the story, one forgets when everything else is so good. Especially the music, entertainment value and chemistry between the leads.

As said, absolutely love the character chemistry. Especially as ever between Popeye and Bluto. Their chemistry is pretty legendary and drives the Popeye cartoons when they are together, which they are a lot though there have been effective changes of pace. One can see why that is the case, the energy between the two sparkles. Popeye is immensely entertaining and likeable while Bluto is every bit his equal, even funnier actually. Olive has some of her best and funniest material in 'Morning, Noon and Nightclub', absolutely loved her songs which Mae Questel sings the heck of. The song is very infectious and hummable and the lyrics are hilarious and relished by Questel.

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.

'Morning, Noon and Nightclub' is chockfull of sight gags and moments, all highly amusing and the best, like Olive's song and Bluto's heckling, hilarious. None of them misfire. Continue to love Popeye's asides and mumblings, Popeye is one of the few characters in animation or anything to make asides and mumblings funny and not irritating. It's not just the material but Jack Mercer's material has a lot to do with it as well.

Voice acting is dynamic and of very good quality, especially from Jack Mercer. Though nobody voiced Olive better than her most frequent voice actress Mae Questel and Gus Wickie has the right amount of menace for Bluto.

Summarising, a great cartoon and one of the best from this period. 9/10

Morning, Noon, and Nightclub (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Popito and Olivita are in Wimpy's club doing a dance number when Bluto decides to come in and cause trouble after the woman refused his date request. Soon Bluto is booing the couple and you just know a fight is going to break out.

MORNING, NOON AND NIGHTCLUB is another fun short in the Popeye series. While I'd fall short of calling this a classic, the film still offers up enough fun action to make it worth watching. The highlight of the film is when Bluto is watching Olive Oyl dance and begins to boo her. Her facial reaction to it was quite funny. Once the dancing begins we get a few funny site gags that help keep the film moving at a nice pace.

Who are the dance sensations at Wimpy's Cafe? Well, the duo of "Popito and Olivita," of course!

Highlights of this very humorous Popeye cartoon included Bluto "scatting" down the street as he punches out Popeye's face on every billboard he sees; his comments when he looks at Olive's face on those billboards ("What a sweet mama! Boy, she's got something!"); nightclub emcee Wimpy with a top hat that is converted to a grill to make hamburgers; and much more.

The story revolves around Bluto trying to ruin the dancing pair's act. That comes after the brute getting the brushoff from Olive on the way in the nightclub. Bluto vows revenge.

I'm not a big fan of the fickle Olive Oyl but I had laugh out loud at some of the lyrics in her opening song, modestly called "Why I Am So Beautiful?" One example: "Can it be my grace or form divine? Can it be my face or these pretty feet of mine? Whooo!!" Mae Questel does a hilarious job singing the song.

What happens afterward is different in that all the violence is done while Popeye and Bluto are dancing with each other. You have to see it to believe it. The Russian dancing at the end is the best part - just an incredible hoot to watch.

This an outstanding cartoon, another of the best in perhaps the best years of Popeye: the mid-to-late 1930s.

Bluto was determined to ruin the floor show scheduled at nearby night club, with Wimpy as proprietor. He punched Popeye's face at all the billboards, was determined, after Olive's rightfully saying NO! to his advances, to get even. Behind the LAST Popeye face that he punched, out came a goat! BAAAAAA! The floor show was entertaining, Olive's singing "Why Am I So Beautiful", after which Bluto rudely booed her and turned on radiator valve to create hiss. Then Bluto tried to spoil the couples' dance act, Popito and Olivita; finally, came the best part when Popeye ate his spinach and, in Russian dance act, let Bluto have it! That evened up THAT score!

Popeye and Olive Oyl dance nightly at Wimpy's Cafe; it's a Spanish dance act. When Miss Oyl refuses to go on a date with Bluto, he tries to sabotage the act.

There's some superb animation of the dance routines by Willard Bowsky and George Germanetti, and an unusually large number of characters from Segar's Thimble Theater comic strip can be glimpsed looking out of windows at an apartment house. For some reason, there's an abandonment of the rule of three here, with the kicker coming on the fourth iteration in a couple of places. Still and all, a fine and funny addition to the list of the Fleischer Brothers' excellent cartoons.