Spinach Fer Britain

This short, one of a handful done by Paramount Famous Studios in black and white, is fairly effective propaganda and uses the black and white to best advantage with shadows and shadings. While the overall value of even a rowboat full of spinach versus, say, munitions, to Britain at that time and place is an open question, Popeye's patriotic fervor is not. An excellent use of Popeye for the war effort. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

Popeye was given a mission in delivering a shipment of spinach to Great Britain. The only problem is that there's a Nazi sub roaming around destroying everything in sight.

And they've set their targets on Popeye's boat of spinach. He'll need to get past them and a field of mines in order to succeed in his mission.

Will our American sailor be able to save the spinach. And what with England do without the spinach? It's a common WW2 cartoon. With a use of entertainment, but it's no where near being a classic like other Popeye and WW2 cartoons.

And like other average WW2 cartoons, it coexists due to it having Nazis in it.

Well, this World War II cartoon makes fun of the "Nutzis," as Popeye calls the Nazis and has our Sailor Guy take a real beating before opening his can of spinach and taking charge.

Prior to his triumph of delivering a small ship's worth of spinach to 10 Downing Street in Great Britain, Popeye and his ship get blown up five times! Yeah, the Germans in their submarines really give it it him big-time. Part of the problem was that Popeye thought all those holes in his ship were just made by a big woodpecker! Finally, he wakes up and states, "That was so woodpecker; it's a subterini!" Sometimes our hero sounds like Curly of the Three Stooges.

The cartoon mocks the Germans and their use of the "Heil Hitler" salute. These are okay to be shown on TV today, but the anti-Japanese movies are banned, I have read.

Spinach Fer Britain (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Here's another WWII era Popeye short that has him on a personal mission to deliver cans of spinach for Britain. While crossing the ocean he runs into a German submarine.

SPINACH FER Britain is pretty much what you'd expect out of a WWII short. You've got the great American Popeye having to go up against some nasty Germans and of course there's plenty of action along the way. The film is certainly patriotic and it's easy to see that movie crowds in 1943 would have loved it but to be honest there really aren't many laughs here and that keeps it from being much better. The animation is nice and the action is good though.

I have never been a particular fan of Popeye. As a kid, I hated when the cartoons came on because they were so darn predictable--you know, Bluto kidnaps Olive Oyl and beats up Popeye, then Popeye eats the spinach and saves the day. However, despite the predictable plots, I always admired the excellent details and Fleischer Studios animation--even though most of them were made in black and white.

This time, however, the plot is very unique. Popeye is helping the war effort by taking a shipment of spinach to Britain all by himself when a German submarine attacks. The Germans were parodied in a pretty funny way, saying "Snoo, Snoo,..Heil Hitler" all the time. My bet is that most Germans today would not feel offended by the silly characterizations and understand the context for the cartoon.

Although the Nazis get the upper hand initially, our spinach-eating hero eventually kicks butt and saves the day. While this is hardly a surprise, it was sure nice NOT seeing Olive and Bluto and seeing Popeye in this film meant to bolster the war effort at home. Sure, the film is very dated since the war has been over for more than 60 years, but it's a shame this toon isn't generally shown any more on regular TV, as it is funny and well-made.