This cartoon makes use of Fleischer's Tabletop process, which animates the cells vertically between set pieces, in this case a model of the city street, in order to create the feeling of depth.
The whole effect is lost in the color version, as the backgrounds is a flat redraw.
One of a number of Popeye shorts which were sent off to Asia in the 80's to undergo the infamous redraw and colorization process.
The trick that Popeye uses to subdue the alligator, and then the alligator uses to subdue him does in fact work. But only on the alligator not on a human. By flipping the animal on its back extending its neck and stroking the belly it induces a hypnotic state called tonic immobility. But this is not a recommended method to use on alligators.
The attention to detail is once again on display in this short, which featured in works of this era. The African elephant is carefully rendered, for example, right down to the feet.
Sweet Pea is Olive's nephew, but the sibling to whom he belongs is never featured. Nephews and nieces of anonymous family members were a popular way to show a character's good parenting and family skills, without the necessity of marriage, as the newly emerging production code would demand. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Barney Bear also had nephews.