Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937)

Popeye the Sailor, accompanied by Olive Oyl and Wimpy, is dispatched to stop the dreaded bandit Abu Hassan and his force of forty thieves.

Directors:

Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky (uncredited)

Stars:

Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Lou Fleischer

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Lou Fleischer	...	Wimpy (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Mercer	...	Popeye (voice) (uncredited)
Mae Questel	...	Olive Oyl (voice) (uncredited)
Gus Wickie	...	Abu Hassan (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

Upon hearing of the evil deeds of the bandit Abu Hassan, Popeye, accompanied by Olive Oyl and J. Wellington Wimpy, flies to Arabia. Olive is kidnapped by Abu Hassan, who forces her to do the laundry for his Forty Thieves. Popeye sneaks into their hideout to rescue her, but finds himself outnumbered forty-one to one.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | popeye the sailor character | olive oyl character | wimpy character | shark | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The story is inspired by the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", but Ali Baba is only mentioned in the title and doesn't appear at all in the film. It could be argued, though, that Popeye takes Ali Baba's role in the tale.

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Goofs

During the battle scene with Abu Hassan and the forty thieves, the dialogue, the sound effects, and partially the music are out of sync with the animation. This was rectified on the DVD release of "Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1."

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Abu Hassan and his forty thieves ride across the desert]
Abu Hassan: [singing] You better lock up your doors today / 'cause Abu Hassan is on his way / Go in hiding, when I go riding / Just me and the 40 thieves! / Your wives and children, and money too / I'll steal them from you before I'm through / I'm out gunning, so start running / From me and the forty thieves! Abu Hassan!
Thieves: Abu Hassan!
Abu Hassan: My game's the toughest / But I'm the roughest / and that's how I'm / Abu Hassan!
Thieves: Abu Hassan!
Abu Hassan: You've got to hand...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The Kids Klassics VHS release (1987) omits the scenes where Popeye & co first hear word of Abu's crimes and then journey in a seaplane and trudge over the desert to find the city.

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Connections

Featured in Army of One (2016)

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Soundtracks

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
(uncredited)
Written by Samuel Lerner (as Sammy Lerner)
Performed by Jack Mercer

User Reviews

Forty thieves dast risk his fisk and get biffed and buffed for their troubles

The second Popeye colour feature again takes a page from 'The Arabian Nights' as the spinach-eating sailor battles the legendary 'Forty Thieves' (oddly, Ali Baba is absent) who are led by egotistical tough guy Abu Hassan (essentially Bluto in foreign garb, voiced by Gus Wickie). After crashing his flying patrol boat in the desert, Popeye (voiced by Jack Mercer), his gangly girlfriend Olive Oyl (voiced by Mae Questel), and gourmand J. Wellington Wimpy (voiced by Lou Fleischer), end up in a Arabian town that gets thoroughly pillaged by Abu Hassan and his fast moving band of thieves. Finding his friends abducted, Popeye follows the brigands to their magical cave and before you can say "Open Sesame" is battling with two-score Arabesque villains to the rousing tunes of John Phillip Sousa. Needless to say that when things look the bleakest, out comes the can of spinach. The film is fun, albeit a bit dated, and culture-sensitive types will find a pleasing amount of Arab stereotyping over which to wax indignant. The animation is superb and Fleischer Studios Tabletop 3D background technique is on display, especially in the opening desert scenes and in the thieves' cave. The film is all you would expect from a Popeye feature, no more, but no less. In addition to the comic action sequences, there are lots of background jokes to watch for (I liked the 'Ali Cat Café'). The voice talent is great, especially Mercer's constantly muttering, semi-inarticulate sailor. Popeye is a one-of-a-kind character and, IMO, the Fleisher shorts and features made in the first half of the last century are 'his best work', so enjoy.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 November 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kippari-Kalle tapaa Ali Baban

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fleischer Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

17 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1