Snafuperman (1944) User Reviews

Who The Hell Put 'Hell' In This Cartoon?

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 2 July 2007]

The message in this "cartoon," another in the series of instructional videos to folks during World War II is "read your manuals." Obviously, this one is geared strictly for the military men. Others were for both military and civilians during the tension-filled years of World War II

The dumb guy in the story thinks he can be a military superman without doing his homework. For example, the idiot was going to bomb Washington by mistake, thinking it was Berlin. Well, you get the message.

This cartoon had a little more humor to it, at least visually, than the other two I saw in this series. Seeing "Snafuperman" doing the backstroke while flying in the air was pretty good, along with a few other sight gags.

Note: I was shocked to hear a guy yell, "How the hell do you expect...." The word "hell" doesn't offend me, but hearing that in a 1944 cartoon?? What gives? Was the audio redone on this?

A kindler, gentler Pvt. Snafu

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 October 2006]

This film, like all Pvt. Snafu films, was designed to be shown to Allied troops to illustrate various points in a humorous and watchable way. Because the audience was made up exclusively of adult men, most of the Snafu cartoons abound with colorful language and sexual innuendo--except for this one (if you exclude what the acronym S.N.A.F.U. stands for). This seems like a "nicer" version of the cartoon series made by Looney Toons and it is still pretty entertaining.

In this toon, Snafu's fairy godfather appears and turns him into "Snafuperman" so he can single-handedly battle the Axis. Unfortunately, despite having muscles and the ability to fly, Snafu is just as stupid as ever. Because he never bothered to read his manuals or maps, he nearly blows up the Capitol building instead of Berlin and fails miserably in his attempt to thwart a Nazi bombing raid.

The cartoon is very well-made and good fun. And, even though we are not the target audience, it's something I recommend you try.

The Superhero parody of Snafu.

[emasterslake · 7/10 · 25 May 2006]

This one is when Snafu is tired of studying field manuals and charts to fight enemies. He wished he could be a Superhero.

So with luck Technical Fairy First class comes in and offers him a wish.

Snafu became a superman only he was still the same height and has no muscles.

He's now able to fight off the enemy with no problem.

But as always Snafu ends up screwing up things. He makes a lousy hero too.

this short has a good lesson in Studying field manuals and charts are better than going out and kill the enemy with no sense of plan.

Lesser Private Snafu cartoon, but still amusing

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 10 July 2014]

Snafuperman is a good-looking and amusing cartoon, but as far as Private Snafu cartoons go I do prefer The Goldbrick(apart from the Japanese Goldbrick character). The story does feel a little thin even for a cartoon so short a length and the point about the concept not been particularly inspiring or interesting is understandable and to me that is also the reason. Snafuperman does put its moral across well enough, if on the forceful side. It's also one of the tamest Snafu cartoons, after seeing parts of The Goldbrick and especially The Home Front- though you may argue that The Home Front is a bit heavy on the daring stuff-, not that it's a problem as such but with not as interesting a subject matter and compared to those two it does feel a tad bland. Snafuperman is very well-animated though with fluid character designs, detailed and not sparse backgrounds and lively colours/shadings. Carl Stalling always did write outstanding music for the many cartoons he scored for and Snafuperman is not an exception, the orchestration is very lush and the pacing is characteristically lively. The instructional parts of the cartoon may not as come across as effectively as it could have done but the humour still shines visually and verbally, the beginning is priceless and the dialogue is appropriately as sharp as a razor and delivered with zany zest by Mel Blanc(one of the most talented, versatile and consistent voice actors there ever was). Snafu is still endearing but is very funny in how inept he is at everything, which provides much of the laughs in his cartoons. All in all, amusing and pretty good but not one of the best Private Snafu cartoons in my humble opinion. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Oh boy! Enemies of democracy, beware!"

[slymusic · 16 February 2008]

Uh-oh. Look out! The United States is doomed! It's "Snafuperman," one of the clandestine Warner Bros. cartoons starring the world's absolutely STUPIDEST soldier: Private Snafu. True, he's determined to defeat the Nazis, but if only he knew the distinction between friend and enemy!

In my opinion, the funniest scene in "Snafuperman" is the very beginning, in which Snafu listens to the radio and noisily bangs on a series of pots, helmets, & crates while several other indignant officers are trying to study; one officer shouts, "How the hell do you expect a guy to study with all that racket going on?!" (I can't explain it, but there's something very humorous regarding even a mild cuss word in a Warner Bros. cartoon.)

As a professional musician, how could I neglect Carl Stalling's wonderful musical accompaniment for "Snafuperman"? A swinging big band arrangement of "Little Brown Jug" can be heard over the radio as Snafu toys with his makeshift drumset. Shortly afterward, Beethoven's famous Piano Sonata in C Minor (Opus 13) accompanies Snafu stressing to his colleagues the importance of filling up those Nazis with lead. And as the aerial bombs are being loaded onto their respective planes, what could be a more appropriate accompaniment than "Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder"?

There always has to be a mess of Messerschmitts, doesn't there?

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 17 July 2007]

This time, Pvt. Snafu gets tired of reading manuals ("Don't conk the enemy over the head with a book! Pump 'im full of lead!"), and gets to be Superman. His immediate conviction of infallibility and omnipotence may be a metaphor for any superpower's wartime elephantiasis; he embodies the belligerent all-brawn-and-no-brain mentality that takes over. Certainly in "Snafuperman", Snafu learns the hard way that it pays to read the manuals. Of course, he has help from voice artist Mel Blanc and director Frank Tashlin. Worth seeing.

As for that line "Messerschmitts! A whole mess of Messerschmitts!", that line also appeared in the Daffy Duck vehicle "Daffy - The Commando", in which Daffy ribs a Nazi Kommandant.

A dull subject (remember to read your field manual) makes for a dull cartoon

[phantom_tollbooth · 3/10 · 9 January 2009]

Friz Freleng's 'Snafuperman' is one of the lesser Private Snafu shorts. A warning of the importance of studying your field manual, 'Snafuperman' makes it point rather clumsily. The story, in which Technical Fairy, First Class makes Snafu into a superhuman in order to help him see the error of his ways, is predictable and unfunny. Freleng's earlier Snafu short 'Rumours' had been bursting with ideas and laughs but here the director is lumbered with a rather boring topic and he struggles to make an entertaining short from it. Even at around three minutes long, 'Snafuperman' seems to drag and, unlike the best cartoons in the series, it feels like an instructional film first and entertainment second. Though they were knocked out more quickly than the usual Warner cartoons, the Snafu shorts largely maintained a surprisingly high standard. 'Snafuperman' is a reflection of the sort of quality you'd more reasonably expect from a less talent bunch of creative minds.

"This looks like a job for Snafuperman!"

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 2 September 2015]

Arguably the most famous Private Snafu short, due to it being a parody of Superman. For those who don't know, Snafu was a moronic soldier character that appeared in many black & white instructional shorts made for use by the military. The idea was to teach soldiers how to properly follow safety procedures and the like by showing them what would happen if they didn't. Snafu was a putz who rarely did what he was told, insisting he knew better. This time Snafu dismisses studying his field manual, claiming he isn't going to beat the Nazis with books but rather a "bellyful of lead." This causes a very funny 'fairy godmother' type of character to show up and give Snafu the powers of Superman in order to fight the Nazis. Despite his newfound powers, Snafu is still a screw-up who almost bombs the Capitol building! This one was directed by Friz Freleng with the great Mel Blanc providing Snafu's voice. It's not quite as racy as some of the other Snafu cartoons but it is amusing and the animation is nice. If you're a Superman fan, this probably has an added bit of appeal for you. Not the best Snafu but enjoyable.

Snafuperman

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 27 April 2021]

A Private Snafu cartoon short that is a parody of the 1940s Superman cartoons.

You even get a snatch of the Superman cartoon theme.

Snafu gets superpowers and becomes Snafuperman as he fights the Japs and the Germans.

However his failure to read the field manual causes him all sorts of problems.

Snafuperman nearly bombs Washington instead of Berlin.

This was a fair parody with the educational aspect being. Read the instructions.

Classic Gem

[gracielou01 · 8/10 · 5 May 2006]

SNAFUperman is a piece of American history. These short cartoons would be good little spoofs on their own but are now a great way of showing Americas use of propaganda in the second world war.

Private Snafu a private in WWII is turned into SNAFUperman(A pun on Superman) by his technical fairy, first class. He refuses to read his manuals and by god it shows. The whole point is that Superman is fictional and it'll take more than Supermen to win the war.

These cartoons are little treasures and should be saved for future generations. I used SNAFUperman as a great source in learning about attitudes towards the war not in my home country of England but in those far away from me.

Perfect

Wherein Private Snafu learns the value of studying up on the enemy.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 7 December 2003]

Here we find that paragon of soldierly virtue, Private Snafu, convinced that all that malarkey about "Enemy Recognition" and reading training manuals is a waste of time. He becomes Snafuperman (a parody of Superman) and discovers it isn't as simple as he thinks. Very good military training film done by the Warner Brothers animation department for the war effort. Well worth watching. Recommended.

When Pvt. Snafu decides that he'll study war no more . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 2 September 2016]

. . . the hapless grunt discovers that you cannot beat Hitler with musical spoons. (Even a Chamber Orchestra will not do the trick, as anyone who's seen one of those Death Camp Porn Movies will realize.) Like the Fourth Plane on 9-11, Snafu takes dead aim on the U.S. Capitol Dome, but his Technical Fairy Godfather First Class says, "Let's Roll!" and puts a stop to the Mayhem. (This is in sharp contrast to a Trumplestiltskin-run America, where Trumpenstein would simply encourage a would-be Dome-Shattering Snafu to "Have at it!"--as he's suggested dropping Bowe Bergdahl riding a bomb Slim Pickens-style on Afghanistan--and we can ALL languish UNDER THE DOME if the Trumpster takes on the role of "Big Jim" and moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Jan. 20, 2017.) This SNAFUPERMAN animated short shown to most incoming members of the Army Air Corps (as the U.S. Air Force was known during World War Two) also is infamous for inspiring the Real Life last words of notables such as designated future U.S. President Joseph Kennedy, Jr. and band leader Glenn Miller, who echoed Snafu's exclamation as their Time Ran Out: "Messerschmitts--a whole Mess of Messerschmitts!"