For Better or Worser (1935) Review - Rubbery, chaotic, and wonderfully cynical

Look, if you have eight minutes to spare today and want to see some classic, rubbery 1930s chaos, For Better or Worser is absolutely worth your time. 🍳

Anyone who loves old-school slapstick or the weirdly dark humor of early Fleischer Studios will have a blast. But if you get annoyed by vintage gender roles or characters who literally never stop mumbling under their breath, you should probably skip this one.

The whole thing starts because Popeye is a absolute disaster in the kitchen. His attempt at making a meal is so bad that the food actually fights back, which is honestly relatable.

I love how he tries to sweep the floor and just pushes a massive pile of dirt under a rug that is already lumpy with years of trash. It is a tiny, throwaway gag but it made me laugh out loud.

Desperate to avoid cooking, he decides he needs a wife and heads to a "matrimonial agency." The sign outside says "Marriages Made - Also Broken," which is wonderfully cynical for a cartoon from 1935.

The Olive Oyl Tug-of-War

Of course, Bluto is also there looking for a bride. They both set their eyes on Olive, who is looking incredibly spindly and weirdly enthusiastic about the whole thing.

The physical comedy here is top-tier Fleischer stuff. When Popeye and Bluto start fighting over her, they literally pull her back and forth like a piece of warm taffy.

At one point, Bluto just stuffs Popeye into a trash can, and the cartoon doesn't even pause to let you process it. The pacing is just relentless.

It reminds me a bit of the chaotic energy in The Four Musicians of Bremen, where the world's physical laws just sort of bend to whatever is funniest in the moment. But here, the violence feels much more personal and petty.

Wimpy is the Real Star

Honestly, the best part of the entire short is J. Wellington Wimpy acting as the Justice of the Peace. He is just so beautifully corrupt. 🍔

While trying to perform a wedding ceremony, he is actively chewing on a hamburger. He literally uses his marriage book to shield his face so he can take another bite without anyone noticing.

William Costello's voice work for Popeye here is so delightfully gravelly. He is constantly muttering these weird, half-coherent jokes that feel like the voice actor was just ad-libbing in the booth to amuse himself.

You can barely understand half of what he says, but the attitude is perfect.

That Ending Though

The climax involves the usual spinach-fueled beatdown, which is fine, but the real punchline comes after the wedding. Popeye finally gets his home-cooked meal, and it is a total disaster.

Olive bakes him a pie that is literally harder than iron. Popeye has to use an actual axe just to dent it, and the axe just shatters into pieces.

Without saying a word, he just runs right back to the matrimonial agency. It is a wonderfully abrupt ending that does not waste a single second trying to be sweet or sentimental.

It is not a perfect cartoon—some of the backgrounds look a little rushed, almost like they ran out of budget halfway through. Some scenes feel like they were animated by two different people who did not talk to each other.

But man, it has so much more life in it than the sterile stuff we get now. Definitely check it out if you want a quick laugh.

Quick notes from my watch:

• The way Popeye's stove literally sighs and collapses under the weight of his cooking.
• Olive's bizarre running animation where her legs look like wet noodles.
• Wimpy's extremely casual attitude towards the whole concept of marriage.