Axe Me Another: Spinach, Splinters, and Pure Cartoon Chaos

Is it worth your time?

If you have seven minutes and a soft spot for 1930s animation, sure. It’s for the folks who want to see Popeye get physical without having to worry about a complex plot. If you hate slapstick or get annoyed by characters who can’t talk without mumbling, you’ll probably want to skip this one entirely. It’s pretty loud and very focused on the punching.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Axe Me Another (1934) through its definitive frames.

The whole thing starts with Bluto being, well, Bluto. He’s running a logging camp like a jerk and he clearly has zero patience for Olive’s cooking. Throwing someone into a river over spinach is a bit of an overreaction, even for a cartoon bully. But hey, it moves the plot along.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Axe Me Another (1934) through its definitive frames.

The animation is exactly what you expect. Everything is bouncy and a little bit rubbery. There’s a moment where the trees seem to have a life of their own, shaking and bending in ways that definitely don't follow the laws of physics. It reminded me of the frantic energy in Frisky Frolics, where everything is just a little bit too fast for its own good.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Axe Me Another (1934) through its definitive frames.

The Lumberjack Showdown

• Popeye arrives, and suddenly it’s a contest.
• The axe work is surprisingly intense for a short that’s mostly meant to be funny.
• I swear, the sound of the wood chopping is louder than the music.

Popeye doesn't really have a plan until the spinach comes out. It’s the classic cheat code, right? One can of the green stuff and he turns into a human buzzsaw. It’s not subtle. It’s not meant to be.

I noticed that Bluto’s ego is the real villain here. He’s so focused on beating Popeye that he forgets he’s standing on a log that’s about to go over a waterfall. It’s a classic trope, but it hits differently when you see how genuinely annoyed he looks. Like, he’s not even scared, just grumpy that he’s losing.

It’s a bit like watching Off His Base in terms of the general vibe—lots of movement, lots of noise, and a sense that the animators were just having fun seeing how much they could break the characters. There’s no deep message here. Just a guy in a sailor suit dealing with a guy in a lumberjack shirt. Sometimes that’s all you really need on a Tuesday morning.

Also, the background art in the forest scenes has this weirdly flat look. It feels like the characters are walking in front of a painting. It works for the style, but once you see it, you can't unsee it. 🌲