Ancient Fistory (1953)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The first must-see film of the year.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Ancient Fistory (1953) *** (out of 4)Princess Olive Oyl is having a grand ball so that men can come and hopefully marry her. Poor Popeye can't attend because he's slaving away in Bluto's restaurant but soon he gets a visit from his Fairy Godfather.This here is an obvious take-off on the Cinderella theme and for the most part it's another winner for the series. This one here benefits from the good animation that you'd expect but there are also plenty of nice laughs. One of the highlights comes during a pistol showdown between Popeye and Bluto as well as another scene where Bluto accidentally kisses a portrait on the wall and the man in the picture has a hilarious reaction. There's also plenty of nice fights from Popeye and Bluto.

It's the middle ages (sort of); Popeye is working in Bluto's Beanery. Bluto is going to the ball where Princess Olive will choose her mate. Popeye's fairy godpappy appears and it's a reverse Cinderella story, with a car created from a can of spinach.This is the 50's Popeye.So the animation isn't as good.Not like to 30s Popeye.But it's better than some of the later Popeye's.And wasn't Altman's version the wort animation?This short is not going to change your life but it's OK for a gay themed cartoon. Popeye plays Cinderella.

Right off the bad, we see a billboard message that reads, "Calling All Males - Grand Ball wherein ye fair Princess Olive will choose her Prince from Amongst Ye Males." Next, we see "Bluto's Beanery," where splendidly-outfitted Bluto is obviously the owner - and a nasty one picking on poor shredded-clothed dishwasher Popeye. Bluto is going to ball to get Olive for his princess. (It's weird to hear him speak in King James English!)Popeye, however, gets on-board thanks to his "fairy godfather," who magically appears. waves his magic wand at a can of spinach and transforms it into a huge limousine. Then he uses his wand to change Popeye's duds into something more royal....and off goes Popeye to vie for Olive's hand. Yes, this turned into a "Cinderella" story. Who knew?You know the rest: the usual competition to see how gets the girl, with the usual funny ways Popeye and Bluto battle it out. The Technicolor in here, by the way, looked super.

This must be the most brilliant thing I've seen recently.This is latter-day Popeye in relation to his original beginnings. So Popeye indeed is a legend of sorts. His general backstory -- the eating of the spinach to transform his persona -- is absorbed into our collective consciousness. As is the Cinderella backstory, which involves a similar transformation of worlds.So somebody spotted this correlation and put together one brilliant cartoon. Popeye eats the spinach and not only enters HIS alternate universe, but he also enters the alternate universe of that other cultural-character mainstay.And what I really like about this cartoon is the total anarchy that ensues. There is a lot of ancient history here, as promised, but all of it is purposely thrown into a half-assed, mismatched brew. We have a historical archetype from one period juxtaposed to one from a completely detached period, and so forth. Clearly the writer purposely threw down whatever recollections of historical figures he could conjure at the moment. The result is engrossing. This is brilliant.