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Title: Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves (1937)
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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) |
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Plot Summary
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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. Written by Paul Penna <tterrace@wco.com>
Plot Keywords:
slapstick comedy | popeye | thief | crossover | reference to open sesame incantation |Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
26 November 1937 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Kippari-Kalle tapaa Ali Baban See more »Company Credits
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IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
[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 ...
[...]
See more »
(uncredited)
Music by Vee Lawnhurst
Lyrics by Tot Seymour
Performed by Gus Wickie
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
In Abu Hassan's cave, Popeye jokingly asks Wimpy "How did you get in here, young fella?" while the joke refers to Wimpy having been taken away by the bandits, it also refers to Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936), the previous big-budget Popeye two-reeler. Wimpy had wandered into Sindbad's home during a standoff, and a surprised Popeye asked him the same thing. See more »Goofs
Abu Hassan is only a head or two taller than Popeye. Abu enters a cave with a door just tall enough to admit himself and his mount, but seconds later Popeye comes up to the same door which now seems to be ten times the height of a man. See more »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 ...
[...]
See more »
Soundtracks
Abu Hassan(uncredited)
Music by Vee Lawnhurst
Lyrics by Tot Seymour
Performed by Gus Wickie
See more »
Frequently Asked Questions
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Enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with Prime Video.
Max Fleischer is the man responsible for the blossoming American animation film industry and he inspired the likes of Walt Disney, Walter Lantz and even Leon Schlesinger. Popeye became the most popular short-film series in the United States when Fleischer bought the film rights to the character, thus resulting in classics like 'Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves' and so forth.
These early Popeye shorts employed what is commonly referred to as 'rubber hose animation' where the characters lacked any specific points of articulation making their arms and legs look 'bendy'. I love these shorts because of the surreal charm they still have eighty years on. They're not trying to pretend that its animation is perfect, they just want to entertain the audience with its fast-paced and ridiculous animation.
I really do like these cartoons' they're lovely time capsules in spite some of the inherent racism that was unfortunately prominent in the 30s. With that said, these cartoons were never made with the intent of offending anyone through any inappropriate characters, they were just products of the time which we can thankfully look beyond now.
Popeye is still a beloved cartoon icon around the world and for good reason; he made the United States and the world happier during the Great Depression, and for that he's become a real superhero in his own right.