Popeye: Assault and Flattery (1956), from the start. You can switch language while the clip plays: it picks up from the same point. «Original» is the cartoon's English soundtrack.
The cartoon
Assault and Flattery is a Popeye short produced in 1956 by Famous Studios for Paramount. The title plays on «assault and battery»: Bluto, bandaged from head to toe and in a wheelchair, is suing Popeye. Presiding is Judge Wimpy, the one who'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Bluto's and Popeye's testimony turns into stories the viewer sees on screen.
The clip
A voice opens the hearing, the clerk reads the charge, Popeye pleads innocent. Bluto tells his side: he only wanted to help Olive Oyl, and it's Popeye who always beats him up for no reason. Then it's Popeye's turn: «I has a lot to say». His story begins, one evening at the theatre with Olive, with Bluto on stage doing a magic act with a deck of cards.
The voices
- Bluto: 14 lines
- Popeye: 8 lines
- Judge Wimpy: 7 lines
- Narrator: 3 lines
- Court clerk: 2 lines
Five characters in three minutes, and cartoon voices: Bluto's boom, Popeye's mumbling drawl, the judge's pompous tone. For automatic recognition they're harder than the voices of a live-action film. The narrator and the clerk are heard but not seen, as voice-over, and they also get a voice of their own.
What to listen for
Popeye's opening line, «Your Honor, I'm innocent», in each country's courtroom formula: «Vostro Onore» in Italian, «Su Señoría» in Spanish, «Euer Ehren» in German, «Wysoki Sądzie» in Polish, «Onorată Instanță» in Romanian. There's also a limit worth knowing: Popeye's ungrammatical English, «I has a lot to say», becomes correct in translation, «Ho molto da dire». The character stays recognisable by his voice, but his way of talking is lost.
Subtitles and screenplay
The same clip produced subtitles in nine languages and the screenplay in Italian and English, with the off-screen voices marked as in real scripts. The opening of the English one is on the screenplay page. Inside MovieCineLab the cartoon is open to everyone who signs up, with subtitles and screenplay to download.