Ration Fer the Duration (1943)
Popeye's planting a victory garden while his nephews are collecting worms for fishing. He berates them for wasting time, and tells them the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, which inspires them to plant beans. Popeye falls asleep, and dreams up a giant beanstalk. His nephews talk him into climbing to the top. Inside the giant's castle, Popee hides in the cuckoo clock and spots the giant hoarding sugar instead of gold; his hen lays tires, and his storehouses are full of other goods that were rationed in World War II. Popeye tries to walk out with a stack of tires, but the giant stops him, ultimately swatting him with a fly swatter and making him into a sandwich; the giant sprinkles Popeye with pepper, delaying the inevitable spinach briefly. Popeye defeats the giant, and gets him to sneeze all his tires into a carpet.
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Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Ration Fer the Duration (1943) *** (out of 4)This here is a WWII era Popeye short that has him building a victory farm. He then has to explain to his nephews that during wartime it's best to make good and share what you have. We then go to a Jack and the Beanstalk type story.If you're a fan of Popeye and his animated shorts then you should enjoy this one as it features some good animation, a clever story and some fun action. The highlight certainly happens towards the end once we get into the Jack and the Beanstalk category and see Popeye having to battle the giant. The film has a good message that of course would have went over well during the wartime.
This is an early Famous Studios Popeye cartoon. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a World War II-themed short, done to promote recycling for the war effort. This is pretty much an average short, with rather predictable gags.Popeye, patriotic fellow that he is, is planting a "victory garden" while his nephews are planning on sneaking off to go fishing. Popeye catches them and lectures them on not helping him plant their garden. He tells them a fractured version of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale and they get to work while Popeye takes a nap and dreams the fairy tale, Popeye style.The giant turns out to be a hoarder and Popeye decides to get all his hoard for the war effort, but the giant catches him. Here, the short turns into a basic Popeye cartoon, with Popeye beating the giant and getting the hoard. That's when the boys wake him up and show him their garden. The end of the short is a pun-fest, a groan-induced one at that.This can be found and is worth watching once.
Here's a classic WWII cartoon that humorously deals the the frustrations of wartime rationing via Jack and The Beanstalk, where The Giant is a hoarder and The Goose lays rubber tires instead of golden eggs. Disney had planned to do the fairy tale (it eventually become the "Mickey and The Beanstalk" section of the 1947 feature FUN AND FANCY) for a couple of years before this cartoon was released - Famous Studios beat Disney to this classic. It should be noted that the first 4 note of Beethoven's 5th Symphony can be heard in the opening and closing of this cartoon, and also when Popeye snores. The 4 notes' rhythm, "dit-dit-dit-dah," are the same as a "V" in Morse Code. During WWII the "V for Victory" campaign was to have people against the Nazis write or paint "V"s in occupied countries to let them know that their enemies were all around them. The BBC began using Beethoven's notes at the start of all their broadcasts to Europe and it became standard show of solidarity around the world for those oppresses by the Axis powers during WWII.
Although the animation is quite simple, the story line is engaging and the visual puns actually fairly funny. It's true that by this time the Popeye cartoons seemed to be a decade behind what Disney or Warner Brothers were doing in animation, but if you're a Popeye fan or have an interest in wartime cartoons, this one is a small gem.