Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Onion Pacific (1940) *** (out of 4)Popeye and Bluto are in a fierce train battle as each of them must try to reach the finish line first. Of course, this means Bluto will be cheating.Fans of the Popeye animated shorts will enjoy this film for what it is even though it's certainly not a classic. There's plenty of fun action throughout including some really funny stuff dealing with the cheating that Bluto does throughout the film. The highlight happens when the two trains are about to go over a bridge that is only set to take on one. As you'd expect there's a lot of nice laughs throughout and as usual the animation is terrific.

This is Popeye and Bluto battling it out on the train tracks: two small locomotives in a race on parallel tracks, the winner getting "the franchise" and a kiss from Olive Oyl.The artwork in here was the most fun in this cartoon, in my opinion. The story was okay, but nothing special but consistently entertaining. However, the best aspect were the drawings of the two trains. They showed the trains from various angles, such as from above, and it all looked pretty cool. It made the cartoon very, very interesting to view.As usual, Bluto does everything he can to sabotage poor Popeye's train during the race and Popeye spends most of the time trying to repair the damage. What the Sailor Man does in the end is even far-fetched for a Popeye cartoon but, hey, in animation anything is possible.