Ghosks Is the Bunk

Ghosks is the Bunk (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye and Olive get an invitation to spend the night at a hotel but when they get there they realize that it's haunted. In actuality, it's Bluto trying to scare them, which of course leads to a fight.

GHOSTS IS THE BUNK isn't a classic Popeye short but it's certainly entertaining enough to where it's worth watching. There are several funny moments but the highlight is the scene where Popeye goes to punch one of the ghosts and misses only to then be knocked upside the head. The animation is excellent as you'd expect and there are certainly some nice laughs throughout.

Popeye gets scared when Olive Oyl reads ghosts stories to Bluto and him. Bluto gets the idea of playing ghostly tricks on the other two. They soon discover this, but it's not until Pope eats spinach that Bluto gets scared.

It's a handsomely done Fleischer Popeye cartoon from the period when they were based in Florida. Its excellent background work makes me long a bit for the days when they reproduced the shoddiness of the landscape in Segar's Thimble Theater comic strip, but over all, it's among the best of them during this period, filled with excellent gags and fine sound effects. We sometimes forget that that fantasy of cartoons permits not only impossible jokes, but impossible scares. Here's a reminder.

Bluto tries to make Popeye look like a big scaredy cat, and in front of Olive, too. Both guys are sitting at Olive's house one stormy night with Olive reading ghost stories to them (like they were little boys). Actually, all three of them are scared. When a big gust of wind knocks open a window and shutters, all three are scared. Popeye is the worst, hiding under the couch. Bluto and Olive laugh at him and Bluto gets an idea. He excuses himself and then calls the two of them from a deserted motel, pretending to be someone in trouble. Popeye, being the good guy he is, comes to the rescue and brings along Olive.

All the while, it's just a ploy to get them there so Bluto can perform stunts - like the trick stairs and fake skeleton - and scare them, particularly Popeye.

It works.....until Bluto's big laugh gives him away. Popeye and Olive then have fun turning the tables on him.

There aren't a lot of laugh-out-loud sight gags or comments but it's still fast-moving and entertaining. Popeye has a few clever remarks, like when he paints himself with invisible paint. When he does his arms, he announces, "Farewell To Arms!"

Popeye has always been a fun and compelling character to me. Bluto is also a great one and their conflict is always so much fun to watch regardless of the quality of the rest of the cartoon. The Popeye series is mostly decent to classic, especially in the mid-late-30s, though there were underwhelming ones later like the worst of the late-50s. It was never less than watchable though. Among the best theatrical series for both Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios.

'Ghosks is the Bunk' is a very good 1939, a very solid year if not as consistently great as the previous few years, Popeye cartoon. Not as good, as funny or as inventive as 'Wotta Nitemare' for example, but there is still more than enough of what makes the series overall as entertaining as it is and why Fleischer Studios' output and the late-30s especially was such a good period for the series. Its best in my personal opinion actually.

Still find Olive's material nowhere near as interesting or as funny as Popeye or Bluto's.

It could have gotten going ever so slightly quicker.

However, 'Ghosks is the Bunk' is full of lively energy, especially in the second half where it becomes increasingly wild, and the gags are plentiful and range from very amusing to hilarious. There are even some nice spooky moments without ever getting too scary. Popeye has not lost his comic timing or compelling personality, but Bluto steals the show here. His tricks and such in 'Ghosks is the Bunk' avoid being too cruel and are quite inventive. The outcome is very satisfying and the chemistry between Popeye and Bluto has wit and tension.

The animation is nicely drawn and detailed, always liked the animation for the late-30s Popeye cartoons (for the series it only started to become more variable around the mid-50s or so to me). The thing that was consistently good about the Popeye cartoons was the music, beautiful and so much fun to listen to because of its lushness and imnense character. Also how much it adds to what is going on without over-emphasising. The voice acting is very good as expected.

On the whole, solid fun. 8/10

Olive Oyl is reading ghost stories to Popeye and Bluto. The wind blows through the house and Popeye gets scared. Everybody is laughing at him and Bluto gets an idea. Bluto intends to scared Popeye by rigging up a rundown abandoned hotel. Then he lures Popeye and Olive Oyl there.

It is the standard Popeye trio. It does do something more and a little weird more than the standard. Maybe it would work better if Bluto challenges Popeye to spend the night in a haunted hotel. As for the invisible paint, it feels like a cheat to do something unreal like that. Nevertheless, this is solid work from Popeye.