{"product_id":"0012569797963","title":"Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1 [4 Discs]","description":"\"The original Max Fleischer-produced Popeye cartoons have long been considered one of the two great missing links in 30's animation on home video (and the Fleischer Betty Boop cartoons are the other one). Kept off of the home video market by a combination of materials problems and legal hurdles for decades, they've finally shown up on DVD, courtesy of Warner Home Video. As a longtime fan and viewer of this material, this reviewer can safely say that none of the material present has looked or sounded remotely this good in some 70 years -- not in their initial television airings in the 1950's (when most were at least intact and uncut), and definitely not since. From the opening credits of the very first cartoon from 1933, the black-and-white visuals are gorgeous, and for the first time in a home viewing format, it's easy to appreciate just how \"\"busy\"\" the Fleischer Popeyes were in their panels and action, all over the screen. Many of the cartoons are also racist by modern standards (which explains some of the cuts made for broadcast since the 1960's, and why some were just plain not shown), and Warner Bros. has put apologies and disclaimers -- which are really more explanations -- at the opening of each disc, referring to the historical importance of the material. One only hopes that they will do the same someday with the Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1930's and early 1940's. And in addition to the dozens of black-and-white Popeyes, this set also includes two of the Fleischer Color Classics starring the sailor hero, Popeye Meets Sindbad (1936) and Popeye Meets Ali Baba (1937), both of which look so crisp and bright that one would swear they're in 3-D (which is not entirely an illusion -- Fleischer used a special rotating stage for those titles that made large sections of them look 3-D).   The producers haveloaded this package up with commentary tracks on key cartoons, all of which -- except, perhaps, for one by Jerry Beck -- are highly informative and a lot of fun; and there are featurettes devoted to difference aspects of the Popeye character, his comic strip origins, and his transition to the big screen, as well as the various major elements of the cartoons, such as the presence and origins of Olive Oyl. Each disc opens with an easy-to-use menu that offers simple access across a couple of layers to individual cartoons and the bonus features. The sound is as good as the picture (full-screen, 1.33-to-1), and allows up to hear more clearly than ever the different voicings that Popeye and the other characters, which are also the subject of some of the commentaries, along with which animators were involved where.\"","brand":"WARNER HOME VIDEO","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47085923369200,"sku":"0012569797963","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/0012569797963_p0.jpg?v=1763760285","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/0012569797963","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}