Popeye Village
Encyclopedia
Popeye Village, also known as Sweethaven Village, is a group of rustic and ramshackle wooden buildings located at Anchor Bay in the north-west corner of the Mediterranean island
of Malta
, two miles from the village
of Mellieħa.
It was built as a film set for the production of the 1980 live-action musical feature film
Popeye
, produced by Paramount Pictures
and Walt Disney Productions and starring Robin Williams
. Today it is open to the public as an open-air museum and family entertainment complex.
s used in the construction of the roof tops were imported from Canada
. Eight tons of nails and two thousand gallons of paint
were also used in construction.
In addition, a 200-250 foot breakwater
was built around Anchor Bay's mouth to protect the set from high seas during the shooting.
The set was completed in seven months, and filming commenced on January 23, 1980. The film, based on the comic strip
s by E.C. Segar, is set around the fictional village of Sweethaven where the sailor Popeye
arrives in an attempt to find his long lost father.
Although the film was initially perceived to be a failure, Popeye Village remains a popular tourist attraction
.
, Olive Oyl
, Bluto
and Wimpy
.
trip around Anchor Bay where one can photograph
the scenery and view Popeye Village from the sea
.
show which includes clips from the actual film and the set's construction. The cinema can accommodate approximately 40 people and has a show every hour. The Popeye movie shown is full of japes and chuckles, and 15 of the 20 minutes is devoted to advertising the children's theme park attached to the complex.
Popeye Village hosts a variety of functions and activities at certain times of the year, including casual barbecue
lunches and dinners.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, two miles from the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of Mellieħa.
It was built as a film set for the production of the 1980 live-action musical feature film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Popeye
Popeye (film)
Popeye is a 1980 live-action film adaptation directed by Robert Altman and adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre aka Popeye comic strip.Marketed with the tagline, "The sailor man with the spinach can!", the film is a musical...
, produced by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and Walt Disney Productions and starring Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
. Today it is open to the public as an open-air museum and family entertainment complex.
History
The construction of the film set started in June 1979. A construction crew of 165 working over seven months was needed to build the village, which consists of nineteen authentic wooden buildings. Hundreds of logs and several thousand wooden planks were imported from Holland, while wood shingleWood shingle
Wood shingles are roof shingles made of cut wood, used for roofing material. Such roofing material made from split wood is referred to as "shakes"....
s used in the construction of the roof tops were imported from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Eight tons of nails and two thousand gallons of paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
were also used in construction.
In addition, a 200-250 foot breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
was built around Anchor Bay's mouth to protect the set from high seas during the shooting.
The set was completed in seven months, and filming commenced on January 23, 1980. The film, based on the comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s by E.C. Segar, is set around the fictional village of Sweethaven where the sailor Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
arrives in an attempt to find his long lost father.
Although the film was initially perceived to be a failure, Popeye Village remains a popular tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
.
Attractions
Popeye Village is open to the public seven days a week and, apart from the film set itself, has a number of family attractions for the visitor to experience. There are shows, rides and museums, as well as play houses where children can climb and explore the village. Children may also get to meet the main characters from the show such as PopeyePopeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
, Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...
, Bluto
Bluto
Bluto is a cartoon and comics character created in 1932 by Elzie Crisler Segar as a one-time character, named "Bluto the Terrible", in his Thimble Theatre comic strip . Bluto made his first appearance September 12 of that year...
and Wimpy
J. Wellington Wimpy
J. Wellington Wimpy, generally referred to as Wimpy, is one of the characters in the long-running comic strip Popeye, created by E. C. Segar and originally called Thimble Theatre, and in the Popeye cartoons based upon the strip...
.
Set dressings and props
Some of the houses in Popeye Village have been equipped with various items related to the filming, including props used in the film's production.Boat trips
Each hour on days when the weather permits, visitors can enjoy a twenty minute boatBoat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
trip around Anchor Bay where one can photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
the scenery and view Popeye Village from the sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
.
Cinema
Situated in the centre of Popeye Village's Lower Complex, visitors can see a twenty minute history and information audio-visualAudio-visual
The term Audio-Visual may refer to works with both a sound and a visual component, the production or use of such works, or to equipment used to create and present such works...
show which includes clips from the actual film and the set's construction. The cinema can accommodate approximately 40 people and has a show every hour. The Popeye movie shown is full of japes and chuckles, and 15 of the 20 minutes is devoted to advertising the children's theme park attached to the complex.
Popeye Village hosts a variety of functions and activities at certain times of the year, including casual barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
lunches and dinners.
Shows
Performers and animators provide regular entertainment for families while they are visiting the village, and many of these shows interact with the audience. They include:- Puppet Show. Featuring five Popeye characters and the Puppet Master, the story is fully interactive with the children in the audience.
- Figaro. The barberBarberA barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
of Sweethaven creates his miraculous and artistic hairstyles whilst singing happily to classical musicClassical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. - Jerry Sprinjer Show. This performance investigates an old secret that has been lurking in Sweethaven. Two "bodyguardBodyguardA bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
s" are chosen, and the audience has a chance to ask questions to discover the story's conclusion. - Popeye and his Friends. A play featuring some famous and not so famous singers, each dance has been choreographedChoreographyChoreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
with attention to detail. It is this show where all the Popeye characters gather on stage to sing the Popeye theme song. - Doctor Graves. Doctor Graves picks a member of the audience to try his experiment on. The audience member is sent to Hollywood.