'Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s V3' BD: Wrapping up Trifecta of Classics Collection

Warner Archive once more shows awesome follow-through in releasing "Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s V3' on September 17, 2019. These theatrical shorts from 1948-49 follow (reviewed) 1940s V1 and (reveiwed) 1940s V2 from earlier in the titular decade. All three (to the extent possible) pristinely remastered sets are among the 1,000s of examples of Archive showing classic films, cartoons, and television their due respect. 

The many spectacular aspects of these cartoons as both separate units and as a whole includes seeing how new technology and styles guide the evolution of the literal and the figurative themes of these timeless treasures.

The back-cover notes remind us of the prime example of the technology. A paramount (pun) intended effort to make a three-strip technique (Beta) an alternative to Technicolor (VHS) is fully on display. Archive delves into this in a preface to "A Wolf in Sheik's Clothing." That one has Popeye come to the rescue when the titular predator makes Bedouin eyes at Olive. 

This set of 17 cartoons from the adolescence of Popeye begins with the self-explanatory prophetic outing "Olive Oyl for President," This best gal of our squid taking offense at his scoffing at the idea of a female president sets the stage for the extended "If I Were President" musical number. 

Sexist hilarity ensues as Olive describes a '40s women's Utopia. This includes the men staying home while female executives dictate correspondence to hunky male secretaries. Another aspect of this Great Society is a tax system that greatly favors getting married over being  a bachelor.

The first historical adventure is "Wigwam Whoppee" in which Pilgrim Popeye woos Indian maiden Olive to the great distress of the chief who has both eyes on that squaw; a highlight is Popeye making his foe look like a real turkey.

Our soulmates also attend the first Olympics in a self-explanatory adventure titled "Popeye Meets Hercules." This one has the competitors vying for gold in the form of Olive. 

The arguably most ambitious short also is the longest; much of the additional three minutes in the highly meta and surreal "Popeye's Premiere" is devoted to Popeye and Olive attending the titular first screening of the Popeye version of the story of "Aladdin." Popeye is an embarrassingly excitable boy throughout that evening that proves to be enchanted. 

The handful of times that arch-nemesis Bluto shows up includes the (sadly) relevant "Snow Place Like Home." Popeye and Olive are enjoying the beach of the city that's got style Miami when a sudden freak storm whisks them (ala "The Wizard of Oz") to the Great White North, which they find is not a beauty way to go. 

It is par for the course when mountain man Bluto, sans any siblings or spouses, tortures Popeye in ways that include giving him a fur coat that a bear still is using. Of course, the rest of this story is that our #metoo offender succeeds in wooing Olive until it no longer is fun. This requires that Popeye 'roid up on spinach and put right what once went wrong. 

The rest of these animated adventures are equally true to form and entertaining. They literally can't make 'em like that any more in this era in which killjoys have sapped much of the fun out of cartoons by forcing the removal of most of the surreal (and ABSOLUTELY harmless) violence.