Ancient Fistory (1953)

It's the middle ages (sort of); Popeye is working in Bluto's Beanery. Bluto is going to the ball where Princess Olive will choose her mate. Popeye's fairy godpappy appears and it's a ... See full summary »

Director:

Seymour Kneitel

Writer:

Irv Spector (story)

Stars:

Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Jackson Beck	...	Bluto (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Mercer	...	Popeye / Fairy Godfather / Guest Announcer / Bull (voice) (uncredited)
Mae Questel	...	Olive Oyl (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

It's the middle ages (sort of); Popeye is working in Bluto's Beanery. Bluto is going to the ball where Princess Olive will choose her mate. Popeye's fairy godpappy appears and it's a reverse Cinderella story, with a car created from a can of spinach.

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Plot Keywords:

popeye | cinderella story | spinach | archery | falling down stairs | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Prinsessan kosijat

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

7 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Peep Show: The Man Show (2004)

User Reviews

Legend Merged with Legend

This must be the most brilliant thing I've seen recently.

This is latter-day Popeye in relation to his original beginnings. So Popeye indeed is a legend of sorts. His general backstory -- the eating of the spinach to transform his persona -- is absorbed into our collective consciousness. As is the Cinderella backstory, which involves a similar transformation of worlds.

So somebody spotted this correlation and put together one brilliant cartoon. Popeye eats the spinach and not only enters HIS alternate universe, but he also enters the alternate universe of that other cultural-character mainstay.

And what I really like about this cartoon is the total anarchy that ensues. There is a lot of ancient history here, as promised, but all of it is purposely thrown into a half-assed, mismatched brew. We have a historical archetype from one period juxtaposed to one from a completely detached period, and so forth. Clearly the writer purposely threw down whatever recollections of historical figures he could conjure at the moment. The result is engrossing. This is brilliant.