Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
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Animation Direction:
Willard Bowsky (uncredited)
Seymour Kneitel
Bill Turner
Jack Ward
(all uncredited)
Adolph Zukor
| Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Dave Fleischer[1] Animation Direction: Willard Bowsky (uncredited) |
| Story by | I. Sparber Seymour Kneitel Bill Turner Jack Ward (all uncredited) |
| Based on | Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves |
| Produced by | Max Fleischer[1] Adolph Zukor |
| Starring | Jack Mercer Mae Questel Gus Wickie Lou Fleischer[1] |
| Music by | Sammy Timberg Sammy Lerner Abu Hassan Song: Tot Seymour (lyricist) Vee Lawnhurst (composer)[2] |
| Animation by | Willard Bowsky George Germanetti Orestes Calpini[1] Uncredited Animation: George Sheehan Lillian Friedman |
| Backgrounds by | Robert Little (uncredited)[1] |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 17:15 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Specials series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 26, 1937 by Paramount Pictures.[3] It was produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc. and directed by Dave Fleischer. Willard Bowsky was head animator, with musical supervision by Sammy Timberg. The voice of Popeye is performed by Jack Mercer, with additional voices by Mae Questel as Olive Oyl, Lou Fleischer as J. Wellington Wimpy and Gus Wickie as Abu Hassan.[1]
While on guard at a Coast Guard post, Popeye, Olive Oyl and Wimpy hear of Abu Hassan's attack on a town in Arabia and fly there in their flying boat to capture him, but they crash as they are flying over the Arabian desert. After trekking through the desert, the group happens upon the town where the Forty Thieves are routinely attacking. The Thieves arrive in town soon afterwards, and their leader Abu Hassan, who closely resembles Popeye's old nemesis Bluto, gets frustrated after failing to win a battle of one-upmanship with Popeye (during which, demonstrating a magic trick, Popeye relieves Hassan of his long underwear, remarking "Abu hasn't got 'em any more!"). Hassan finally leaves Popeye hanging from a chandelier, then orders his Thieves to swipe everything they can from the town before fleeing, including Olive and Wimpy. Popeye eventually manages to break free and takes a camel to Abu's secret cave, where, unable to remember the magic word of "open sesame!", he breaks in using his pipe as a blowtorch.
Inside the cave, Popeye sneaks past the guards and attempts to free Olive and Wimpy. He confronts Abu Hassan and demands that he gives the Forty Thieves' stolen jewels back to the people. However, he is apprehended and thrown into a killer whale pit. Just before being eaten by a killer whale, Popeye tangles the killer whale's teeth together, and the killer whale goes back down into the water. Popeye eats his spinach (using the phrase "Open says me" to open the can's lid), and escapes the killer whale pit to fight Abu Hassan and all forty of the Thieves. He finally defeats the Forty Thieves by constantly punching them (counting every single one as he does so), before throwing and locking Hassan in a treasure chest.
The Thieves and Hassan are chained and made to drag a cart filled with the stolen loot, Popeye, Olive, and Wimpy, back to town, where the townspeople, jubilant at their liberation from Hassan's reign of terror, await them with open arms. As Popeye puts it, "I may be a shorty, but I licked the Forty! I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!"
