I Eats My Spinach

As in several of the early Fleeischer cartoons, Popeye is a very amoral character in "I Eats Me Spinach". This becomes clear at the very beginning. Popeye shows his prowess by walking though an armed robbery, but he does nothing to stop it. He only gets more disagreeable from that point on. He throws a huge rock though Olive Oyl's window to get her attention, sneaks into the rodeo without paying, throws two "children" out of their seats, and is every bit as cruel to the animals as Bluto is. In fact, one is hard pressed to find any real difference in the personality of Popeye and Bluto in this one. Popeye must win simply because this is his film, not because he has any better moral lesson to offer than Bluto. This, of course, is in sharp contrast to the many Popeye films that would come later where he was the clear "good guy". Having said all of this, it should be understood that this is very much a classic Fleischer film and would be a treasure for any avid Popeye fan. Just don't expect your honest and loyal hero to act the part in this one or you might be quite disillusioned. Popeye has gone though several fascinating changes in both comics and films since he was created and this black and white gem is a great piece of Popeye history. (All color copies should be destroyed on sight).