With this episode, the Fleischers were, in effect, flipping the bird at those saying their pictures were "too violent." When Popeye, Bluto and Olive receive a pointed telegram, then comically show up as "proper" society types, they're saying, very sarcastically, "Maybe you'd rather have THIS, you sissies?" As the three realize they're making idiots of themselves, give in and hilariously revert to the violence, the viewer understands that without some fisticuffs tossed in when needed, the Fleischer tunes might as well have gone down the Disney path and sacrificed humor for beauty.
Make no mistake, both humor and beauty have always had their place in animation, but the Fleischer 'toons and, later, those of Warner Brothers (to whom many of Max and Dave Fleischer's best writers went after Paramount took over and ruined Popeye), were far funnier than Disney's. And yet, with their meticulously crafted backgrounds, Fleischer pictures had a unique beauty of their own. I love both the Fleischer and Disney creations from the 1930s, but given the choice of either, I'd take the Fleischer creations in a heartbeat.
All this installment lacks is the far-better voices of Gus Wickie as Bluto and Mae Questal as Olive, but Max lost both when he moved his studio to Florida. Such is life.