Ghosks is the Bunk is a black and white Fleischer Studios Popeye the Sailor short animated film which makes suitable viewing for Halloween. It was directed by Dave Fleischer and features the voices of Jack Mercer as Popeye, Pinto Colvig as Bluto and Margie Hines as Olive Oyl. It was released in the United States on June 14, 1939.
In the short film, as in many other cartoons starring Popeye the Sailor, Popeye's bearded muscular adversary Bluto tries to trick him and pick a fight with him. Bluto quickly gains the advantage but Popeye eventually defeats him, largely thanks to the superhuman strength he gains by eating a can of spinach. In Ghosks is the Bunk, Bluto does not appear to show any romantic interest in Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl. Rather, he delights in frightening both Popeye and Olive by fooling them into thinking that they have entered a haunted house.
Ghosks is the Bunk is the cartoon's original title, reflecting Popeye's non-standard grammar and pronunciation with the word "ghosts" being deliberately misspelled. When the cartoon was colorized, the title card was changed to read Ghosk is the Bunk.
The film was partially remade in 1954 as Fright to the Finish.
Plot[]
Title card.
Olive Oyl is reading to Popeye and Bluto from a book of ghost stories. All three of them are scared by the noise made by a sudden gust of wind, Popeye being so frightened that he hides under the sofa. When Popeye comes out from hiding, the other two laugh at him. However, Popeye insists that he was not scared and says that he knows that ghosts do not exist. Bluto suddenly gets an idea and announces that he has to leave.
Shortly afterwards, Popeye receives a telephone call which tells him that someone is in trouble at the old abandoned hotel. He and Olive Oyl rush over to it. After they enter the building, Popeye and Olive hear a ghostly voice which welcomes them as guests to the hotel. A visitors' book appears to open by itself and a pen floats in the air in front of it. A bellboy, invisible apart from a cap, gloves and shoes, appears. Popeye strikes at the ghostly bellboy but the bellboy hits him back. The book and pen and the bellboy's cap, gloves and shoes are all being worked by strings, like puppets, by Bluto. One of the bellboy's gloves is weighted, so that it can be used to punch.
Olive tells Popeye that the invisible bellboy is going up the stairs. They both follow him but the stairs suddenly change into a slide that Popeye and Olive fall down. Hearing laughter, Popeye and Olive Oyl notice Bluto under the staircase, next to the machinery that turns the stairs into a slide. Having realized what is happening, Popeye and Olive decide to take revenge on Bluto.
Popeye notices a can of invisible paint. He covers both himself and Olive Oyl with it. After falling down his own trick staircase, Bluto starts being attacked by the invisible Popeye. Bluto is able to fight back for a while. However, when he sees his invisible adversary eat a can of spinach, Bluto flees in terror, breaking through a wall to get out of the building.
After having poured some paint remover over himself, Popeye becomes visible again. An invisible hand hits him. Thinking that it is a ghost, Popeye hits back. He pours out some more paint remover and sees that he struck Olive Oyl. The angry Olive continues hitting Popeye, chasing him out of the hole in the wall that Bluto made when he ran out of the building.
Trivia[]
- This short was featured in a colorized form in 1987 as part of the Tom and Jerry Halloween Special.