All Films

Wimmin is a Myskery

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

When Popeye tells Olive Oyl that he will propose to her the next morning, she has a dream that their four boys will run roughshod over their house.

Emergency Squad

1940 • 58 min • United States of America

Betty Bryant is an ambitious newspaper reporter in love with Dan Barton, a member of a big-city Emergency Squad who are trained to deal with riots, cave-in, explosions, fires and other emergencies where lives are at stake. Slade Wiley, an unscrupulous tunnel builder, finds that his low bid on the Newford Tunnel project is causing him to lose a lot of money, and has underworld leader Nick Burton set off blasts to frighten the stockholders into selling their shares at a low price so he can buy up the stock. Betty is investigating the deal when Wiley and Burton take her on a "tour trip" to the tunnel.

News Oddities

1940 • 6 min

A cartoon offering a series of blackout gags, disguised as a newsreel

The Tale of the Priest and his Worker Balda

1940 • 22 min • Soviet Union

A self-loving and arrogant priest, strolling through the market square, is looking for a "cook, stable boy and carpenter" who would work for him diligently and a lot, and take only a little money for it. He meets a brave young man, Balda, who is hired as a servant by the popes for a purely symbolic payment - "a year for three cheeks on the forehead". Soon the Pope will have to learn the power of Balda's slap.

Slap Happy Pappy

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

Porky runs a farm; we see him plowing the fields. But it's primarily a poultry farm; as the sign says, "For sale: Miracle eggs if it's a good egg, it's a miracle." A rabbit, doing a Jack Benny impression (Jack Bunny), paints and inspects eggs. He starts to smash and reject a black egg, but it hatches into a black baby bird doing a Rochester impression. We next visit the Eddie Cackler family, (Eddie Cantor) who have been trying without success to have a son; the next five eggs hatch, and they are again all girls. A Bing Crosby lookalike comes by with a stroller full of sons, and Eddie asks for his secret; he demonstrates by crooning to a chick, who lays dozens of eggs with boys names on them. Eddie croons to his wife, but in a higher pitch, then dances out singing the theme song to other caricatures. The egg hatches, but in answer to Eddie's question, is it really a boy? "Mmmm... could be."

Home Movies

1940 • 8 min • United States of America

A comedy short staring Robert Benchley. He tries to show us how to make our own movies.

Pilgrim Porky

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

The Pilgrims, led by captain Porky Pig, set sail from Plymouth for America. We get a series of ocean sailing blackout gags, including a running bit between our narrator and the cook, looking for a fish suitable for dinner, a singing trio interrupted by seasickness, flying fish (in airplanes). Then, The Rains Came. A collision with an iceberg is narrowly averted. Land is sighted. The pilgrims are welcomed by Chief Sitting Bull.

Young as You Feel

1940 • 60 min • United States of America

Father sells his drugstore and the Jones family heads for New York to enjoy sophisticated city life. They lose all their money before deciding to go back home.

The Volunteer Worker

1940 • 3 min • United States of America

A trailer created for the Community Chest features Donald as a charity collector having a hard time.

100 Pygmies and Andy Panda

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

Andy Panda gets a magic kit in the mail.

Popeye Meets William Tell

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

William Tell shoots an arrow, barely missing Popeye, then tells Popeye that he has just lost his son in an unfortunate arrow incident. Tell then defies the High Governor and is ordered to shoot an apple off his son's head; Popeye stands in for his son.

Breakdowns of 1940

1940 • 11 min • United States of America

Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1940.

Puttin on the Act

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

Olive rushes over to show Popeye the headline: Vaudeville is coming back. They agree to rehearse their old act. After a brief song-and-dance intro, the act begins: Popeye demonstrating his strength while Olive displays her flexibility and balance; impersonations of Jimmy Durante, Stan Laurel and Groucho Marx; and the last act, more feats of strength and agility.

And So They Live

1940 • 25 min • United States of America

A stark documentary film about the economic and educational crises the mountain people of rural Appalachia faced at the tail end of the Dust Bowl period.

Doing Impossikible Stunts

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

Mystery Pictures is looking for a stunt man. Swee'pea tags along with Popeye, but he sends the tot home. Popeye shows clips of his stunts to the director, who is impressed; when he goes to put on the last reel, Swee'pea, who snuck back in, hands him Lost and Foundry (1937), which features Swee'pea saving the day. The director signs Swee'pea.

Ivas

1940 • 20 min • Soviet Union

Fairy tale about heavy bondage of the Belarus people which is under the Polish yoke. Athlete Ivas, the farm laborer of the Polish seigniors, does wonderful affairs and doesn’t receive any gratitude from them. The red Army releases Ivas from bondage.

Welfare of the Workers

1940 • 9 min • United Kingdom

A story of sacrifice, in which organised labour voluntarily relinquishes hard-won workplace rights after being asked "to give up by choice what Hitler takes by force."

Hunting in the South Seas

1940 • 12 min • Germany

The film depicts one of the great hunts the South Sea Islanders. Come schools of fish in one of the bays on the island, so hurry on an alarm signal all the people out to sea to seal off the bay to drive the fish towards the coast and to impose there with spears.

You Can't Shoe a Horse Fly

1940 • 7 min • United States of America

Hunky and Spunky are settling in for a nap, but a horse fly sees them and sees dinner. After battling the fly for a while, the youngster enlists dad's help. But the fly is merely stunned, and rallies a new attack, this time with friends. Father eventually kills the lot of them.

Undersea Fantasy

1940 • 10 min • Italy

The tale of two fish in love, threatened by an octopus and saved by an eel.

Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra

1940 • 10 min • United States of America

Ozzie and his orchestra play a few tunes.

Poopdeck Pappy

1940 • 6 min • United States of America

Popeye's elderly father, Pappy, wants to go out at night. Popeye wants him to sleep.

Ridin' the Trail

1940 • 57 min • United States of America

With the Government Remount Service unable to meet it's quota of horses, Marshal Fred Martin arrives to try and find the rustlers. Apparently just a singing cowhand dressed in white, he becomes the masked Two Gun Troubador dressed in black when he goes after the outlaws. He quickly learns Tex Walters is the leader of the gang but he must find out who is the big boss that gives Walters his orders.

4 and 20 Fit Girls

1940 • 11 min • United Kingdom

Flock to your local keep fit class - there's a war on and Britain needs its citizens in tip-top shape.