Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Specials series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 26 1937 by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by Max & Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc. and directed by Willard Bowsky , with musical supervision by Sammy Timberg . The voice of Popeye is performed by Jack Mercer, with Mae Questel as Olive Oyl and Gus Wickie as Abu Hassan.

Plot

Ali Baba does not appear in this film, but his band of Forty Theives do, led by Abu Hassan (modeled after Bluto). They wreck and plunder an Arabic town until Popeye, Olive Oyl, and J. Wellington Wimpy hear of Hassan's exploits and fly there to capture him. After geting lost in the desert (Popeye remarks "I wish there was a boardwalk on this beach; there's so much sand I'd make a sandwich if I had a witch."), the group happen upon the town and soon run-in with the Forty Theives. The Thieves abduct Olive and Wimpy, and Abu Hassan leaves Popeye hanging from a chandelier after failing to win a battle of wits with him (during which, demonstrating a magic trick, Popeye relieves Hassan of his long underwear, remarking "Abu Hasn't got 'em any more!"). Popeye manages to break free, and takes a camel to Ali Baba's secret cave, where, failing to remember the magic word of "open sesame!", he breaks in using his pipe as a torch.

Inside of the cave (giving the Fleischer a chance to show off their Tabletop 3D background process), Popeye sneaks past the guards and attempts to free Olive and Wimpy and give the Forty Thieves' stolen jewels back to the people. He is apprehended and thrown into an shark pit. Just before being eaten by a shark, Popeye produces his spinach, opening it by commanding the can "open sez me!" Now superpowered, Popeye defeates the shark, Abu Hassan, and all forty of the Thieves (coutning them as he does so). The Theives and Hassan are chained and made to drag a cart filled with the stolen jewels, Popeye, Olive, and Wimpy, back to town, where the townspeople await them with open arms. Popeye turns to Olive and sings, as the film irises out, "I may be a shorty/but I licked The Forty/I'm Popeye the Sailor man!/*toot toot*".

Release and reaction

This short was the second of the three Popeye Color Specials, which were, at over sixteen minutes each, three times as long as a regular Popeye cartoon, and were often billed in theatres alongside or above the main feature. Today, this short and the other two Popeye Color Specials, Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, are in the public domain, and are widely available on home video and DVD.