Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1 is the first authorized DVD release of theatrical Popeye cartoons. This is also the shorts' first official home media release of any kind, having been previously unavailable on Betamax, VHS, and Laserdisc due to rights issues between Warner Bros. and King Features Syndicate. This four-disc DVD set includes 60 theatrical Popeye cartoons and was released on July 31, 2007 by Warner Home Video.
This set was followed by Volume 2 and Volume 3 in 2008.
Background[]
In June 1956, Paramount Pictures sold the entirety of the Fleischer and Famous Studios Popeye cartoons from 1933 to 1957 to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p) for $1.25 million.[1] As part of the deal, Paramount (who did not want its name or image associated with television at the time), ordered a.a.p to remove the Paramount Pictures logo, and replace it with "a.a.p" logos instead. Two years later, in 1958, a.a.p. was acquired by United Artists. In 1981, United Artists merged with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to become MGM/UA.
In 1983, MGM/UA Home Video attempted to release a collection of Popeye cartoons on Betamax and VHS tapes titled The Best of Popeye, Vol. 1. However, the release was cancelled after MGM/UA received a cease and desist letter from King Features Syndicate, who claimed the original 1956 contract between Paramount and a.a.p did not specify the rights for "home use", and King Features - who owned the rights to all other Popeye characters, material, comics, and merchandising - also had the home video rights (even though they did not have ownership to the cartoons themselves).[2]From the early-1980s until the mid-2000s, the rights dispute between the two companies prevented the official home video release of the Fleischer and Famous Studios Popeye cartoons on Betamax, VHS or Laserdisc.[3] While most of the Paramount Popeye catalog remained unavailable on VHS tape, a number of shorts fell into the public domain and were found on numerous low-budget VHS tapes and DVDs.[3] Most used a.a.p. prints from the 1950s with very poor image quality, and had the limited selection of said public domain entries: seven black-and-white 1930s and 1940s cartoons, 24 Famous Studios cartoons from the 1950s, and all three Popeye Color Specials.
In 1986, Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System attempted to acquire MGM/UA, but due to debt concerns, Turner was forced to sell the company back to its original owner Kirk Kerkorian after only 74 days of ownership. However, Turner kept most of the Pre-May 1986 MGM library as well as a few portions of the United Artists library - including the former a.a.p. library (and thus the Popeye cartoons) - and formed his own holding company, Turner Entertainment, to manage the rights. A decade later, Turner Broadcasting was purchased by Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery) in 1996, and the distribution rights to the cartoons moved from MGM over to Warner Bros.
In 2002, it was reported that WB and King Features' parent Hearst Corporation were working on a deal to release Popeye's cartoons on home video.[2] Over 1,000 people signed an online petition asking WB and King Features to release the theatrical Popeye cartoons on DVDs.[4]
In 2006, Warner Home Video and King Features Syndicate/Hearst Entertainment finally reached an agreement, allowing for the release of the theatrical Popeye cartoons on home video. Paramount Pictures also allowed Warner Bros. to restore the original Paramount logos on the cartoons as part of a cross-licensing deal between the two companies (which also permitted the use of the "WB Shield" logo on certain films produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions that were originally released by Warner Bros. but are now distributed by Paramount) thus preserving the artistic integrity of the original theatrical releases.[3]
Warner Home Video released Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1 on July 31, 2007. The set included 58 regular one-reel black-and-white Popeye cartoons, and two of the two-reel Technicolor Specials: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves. All the cartoons on this and following sets are unedited and digitally restored with their original Paramount logos, marking the first time in a half-century that they have been shown in their original format.
Because some of the shorts contain material which may be considered offensive to modern audiences, each disc in this collection includes a title card disclaimer, which summarizes that the cartoons may depict sexist, ethnic and racist stereotypes - similar to that seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD releases by Warner Home Video.
Contents[]
Disc 1[]
- 1933
- 1934
Special features[]
- Commentaries
- Animation Historian Michael Barrier on Popeye the Sailor and I Eats Me Spinach
- Animator and Historian Mark Kausler on I Yam What I Yam
- Animators Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua on Blow Me Down
- Animation Historian Jerry Beck on Wild Elephinks
- Historian Glenn Mitchell on Sock-A-Bye Baby
- Filmmaker Greg Ford on Can You Take It
- Animator Eric Goldberg on A Dream Walking
- I Yam What I Yam: The Story of Popeye the Sailor
- Popeye Popumentaries
- Mining the Strip: Elzie Segar and Thimble Theatre
- Me Fickle Goyl, Olive Oyl: The World's Least Likely Sex Symbol
- From the Vault
- Colonal Heeza Liar at the Bat
- Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing
- Domestic Difficulties
Disc 2[]
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
Special features[]
- Commentaries
- Animation Historian Jerry Beck on Beware of Barnacle Bill and You Gotta Be a Football Hero
- Filmmaker Greg Ford on Choose Your 'Weppins' and For Better or Worser
- Animation Historian Michael Barrier on King of the Mardi Gras
- Historian Glenn Mitchell on Adventures of Popeye
- Music and Animation Historian Daniel Goldmark on The Spinach Overture
- Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation, 1900-1920
- Popeye Popumentaries
- Wimpy the Moocher: Ode to the Burgermeister
- Sailor's Hornpipes: The Voices of Popeye
- From the Vault
- Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum
- Feline Follies
- The Tantalizing Fly
Disc 3[]
- 1936
- 1937
Special features[]
- Commentaries
- Writer Paul Dini on A Clean Shaven Man
- Animators John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio on I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski and Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor
- Animator Mark Kausler on The Paneless Window Washer
- Popeye Popumentaries
- Blow Me Down! The Music of Popeye
- Popeye in Living Color: A Look at the Color Two-Reelers
- From the Vault
- Modeling
- Invisible Ink
- Bubbles
- Jumping Beans
- Bed Time
- Trapped
Disc 4[]
- 1937
- 1938
Special features[]
- Commentaries
- Animators John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio on Lost and Foundry and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
- Animation Historian Jerry Beck on Protek the Weakerist
- Popeye Popumentaries
- Me Lil' Swee' Pee: Whose Kid is He Anyway?
- Et Tu, Bluto: Cartoondom's Heaviest Heavy
- From the Vault
- A Trip to Mars
- Koko Trains 'Em
- Koko Back Tracks
- Let's Sing with Popeye
References[]
- ↑ https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/famous-studios-1955-56/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20200121131238/http://www.cartoonresearch.com/comments.html%7C
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://animatedviews.com/2007/jerry-beck-on-cartoons-then-and-now/
- ↑ http://www.calmapro.com/popeye/dvd.php?section=dvd_petition_view¤t=dvd&orderby=id