The Royal Four-Flusher

The Royal Four-Flusher
Number 148
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The Royal Four-Flusher is Popeye's 148th theatrical cartoon, produced by Famous Studios and released in 1947.

Plot

Popeye and Olive are having a walk in the park near the zoo, where they try to feed the squirrels, although the sailor proves more successful than his girlfriend. Bluto, in his identity of "Count Marvo", rides a horse nearby wearing an elegant sports jacket. He spies on the couple and, the self-proclaimed "master of magic" (and tricks), produces a fake squirrel with wich to bait the lady. Olive is only flattered by the Count's doting, with Popeye's anger switched for good manners at her insistence. An amicable handshake ends with the Count using a fake hand to propel Popeye to the turtle's cage at the nearby zoo while the trickster and Ms. Oyl pay a visit to a hot-dog cart by the lion's cage. The Count offers the sailor a hot-dog to appease him, yet the sandwich in fact contains the lion's tail. In its fury, the beast yanks the sailor into its lair - and toward its hungry maw. Popeye employs the same trick of feeding the lion its own tail, and escapes. When Popeye confronts the Count, the latter insists they use duel pistols, which does not thrill Popeye. The weapons are soon revealed to be trick guns as well. Popeye suspects an offer of a cigar to be tricked, but the Count had anticipated this and lets Popeye switch the ones they are smoking. Popeye is propelled towards the seal pool, where he becomes trapped. The Count then offers Olive a ride on his horse and an invitation to know his penthouse that rises over the clouds. After showing her the various play areas therein, he lets her try on a fur coat - which is in fact Marvo's trap to bind her in a straitjacket and force himself upon her. Her cries for help prompt Popeye to escape the seals and burst into the penthouse, but he ends up thrown over the edge of the building as he prepares to eat his spinach. The impact breaks the pavement below and leaves the hero unconscious, while the still-bound Olive is only left to climb a pole to stay away from her tormentor. As the Count chops away at the pole, his axe pushes the left-over spinach can over the penthouse's edge, its contents falling into Popeye's mouth. The hero proceeds to disassemble the building store-by-store, then catches his beloved in his arms after punching his foe into the hyena's cage. Both the Count and the animal laugh hysterically as Popeye and Olive amuse themselves by tickling the trickster's exposed foot.

Trivia

• After the short was edited for a.a.p., the original ending was lost, so in Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s Volume 2 the ending cue from Abusement Park was substituted.

Gallery

External links

• The Royal Four-Flusher at the Internet Movie Database