6/10
A Singing Popeye Cartoon
6 September 2007
This is an unusual Popeye cartoon in that 98 percent of the dialog is sung - and all of it one song: "The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trepeze." It gets to be a little much after awhile and I'm glad this sort of thing wasn't the normal fare. In fact, I don't if it ever was done again in a Popeye animated short. You can't use any verbal jokes or add to the story when all you are doing is repeating verses of the same song over and over.

However, the sight gags are very good in the beginning before the "trapeze song" took over, as Popeye sails an ocean liner through the dock and down the main street of a big city, right to Olive's house. We also see something else unique (at least, I've never seen her): what looks to be Olive Oyl's mom. It's a shorter, fatter and older version of Olive. She sings to Popeye that Olive has run off with the "man in the flying...."

Fortunately, the circus is right across the street so Popeye takes a bunch of nearby street kids to the tent, watches the big musclebound guy on the trapeze swing a terrified Oliver around like a wet towel, and then goes to get his girl. The ending is funny and unexpected. Olive really took her lumps in this episode!
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