Animation &Commentary &Fleischer &Frame Grabs &walk cycle 10 Mar 2008 08:12 am
Betty Walks Backwards
Thad Komorowski posts a Popeye cartoon Popeye Meets William Tell which he surmises that Shamus Culhane is the director (he receives top animation billing under Dave Fleischer’s name.) The only other animator listed is Al Eugster. The cartoon is certainly an oddity, and I’m glad Thad highlighted it for me. It looks like an afterthought from the Gulliver’s Travels team. I don’t remember seeing it before, though I must have. It’s not that great a Popeye short; just an odd one.
There’s a curious thing happening in a walk in the opening of that film, and I hoped I had the film somewhere so that I could take a better look at it frame by frame. I don’t have it so will have to wait until I receive vol.2 of the Popeye dvd.
However I started looking a little closer at some Fleischer shorts. There are no end of interesting walks in those films. I found in the last Betty short Rhythm On the Reservation, that Betty walks backwards through about 1/3 of the film. She’s supposed to be conducting a beat for the Native Americans she’s visiting. What comes out is an interesting cycle that was probably animated by Myron Waldman.
I thought I’d share this walk with you.
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2 (Click any image to enlarge.) Betty walks backwards keeping time on three’s.
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8 I can’t help but note that the Fleischer walks always seem to include
a complete turn of the head from left to right.
All animation is exaggeration.
on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:47 am 1.Ray K said …
This is a very strange Popeye cartoon. If I remember right, in his book “Talking Animals,” Shamus Culhane credits himself with directing this cartoon and talks about it at some length, proudly pointing to its supposedly superior animation, thanks to the Disney training he brought back to the Fleischer studio after animating on Silly Symphonies and “Snow White.” But however hard the Fleischers tried to ape Disney and “Snow White,” it was never the right fit; “Gulliver’s Travels” is labored and inauthentic, and forcing poor Popeye into this universe is downright torturous. The heavy-handed squash, anticipation, drag, and over deliberate posing and pacing have about as much to do with animation as Berlitz records have to do with language. The best Popeye cartoons always had a gritty, urban confidence, matched by a blunt, broad-shouldered animation style as New York as elbowing your way into a subway. But, more to the point, the story is anemic and “Popeye” woefully out of character. Instead of the tough, scrappy hero who gamely punches his way through tough times, this bland do-gooder seems to have mistakely wandered into the cartoon from a revival meeting. It’s appropriate that this imposter gets spanked at the end–the real Popeye would never stand for such an indignity!
on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:30 pm 2.Thad Komorowski said …
Popeye Meets William Tell is actually a favorite of mine. Occasionally in superior Fleischer Popeye’s the animation is really crude and stilted, which isn’t a problem here. It’s a silly idea and it’s a silly cartoon. Not sure what the fuss is about. There were far worse Popeye’s being made at the time.
Mike, I can send over a copy of this cartoon to you on DVD if you want. Just e-mail me.
on 10 Mar 2008 at 12:48 pm 3.Michael said …
Ray, I couldn’t agree more with you. I also think some of the animation is particularly bad. I wonder why they didn’t just use “Gabby” for William Tell. Popeye seems to have been redesigned for this film. I have to say that I’ve never been a fan of Shamus Culhane’s work, and this film supports it. The BG’s are good.
I agree that the earlier films and their roughness enhances the Popeye shorts. But then I also like the earliest Mickeys for their rough quality.
Yet, in saying all that, I have to admit that I’m still a sucker for this period of the Fleischer work (as well as the immediate pot-Fleischer shorts). I have some unexplainable attachment to the period of their work. I guess that means I actually like all of the Fleischer work, though I can’t account for it.
on 10 Mar 2008 at 11:48 pm 4.Stephen Worth said …
Musical Mountaineers is the best of the Betty Boop cartoons of this period. It’s got everything that makes a Fleischer cartoon different from other studios at the time.
See ya
Steve
on 11 Mar 2008 at 12:48 am 5.Jeff Shelly said …
Hi Michael,
How are you? Your site is great inspiration. Also, George McClements and I are going to be in NY at the end of the month. It would be fun to get together.