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Don't listen to the negative reviews

Don't Believe the Hype

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

. . . along with a generous dose of White House Resident-Elect Rump-style groping, OPERATION SNAFU seems to forecast the Mixed-Up Sexual Mores of America's continuing 21st Century. Since OPERATION SNAFU centers around Pvt. Snafu stealing Japan's "Secret War Plans" AFTER World War Two has ended, it appears likely that Warner Bros.' always psychic Looney Tuners--whom the U.S. Army commissioned to do most of the Snafu animated shorts, using American tax dollars--are trying to tell us that this insidious enemy will use operatives in the guise of auto industrialists, martial arts movie stars, and Major League Baseball Players to fan out across America and spike our water with a weird Biological Sex Weapon. When WWII ended, America officially had just two genders (same as Today's Japan). But in the 70 years that we've given thousands of our "former" enemies a free rein to run around our entire once-great land, there are now about 60 genders recognized by our about-to-be defrocked President, with new ones emerging nearly every day. All of this damage to the Fabric of American Society is cleverly foretold in OPERATION SNAFU.

Another entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during World War II. This one's directed by Friz Freleng and, like No Buddy Atoll preceding it, is less an instructional short like most of the others and more just a straightforward cartoon with a war theme. There's no dialogue in this one. It tells the story of Snafu stealing top secret documents in Japan and having to disguise himself as a geisha girl. I guess he's a spy or something here. Dumb. There aren't any good gags and nothing particularly controversial like many of the shorts. Unless we count the portrayal of the Japanese which, given the era in which this was made, would have been no big deal. Despite some nice black & white animation, it's pretty light on laughs and is easily the weakest entry in the whole series.

Any Private Snafu cartoon is watchable at least and Snafu for all his idiocy is still an endearing character. While it is nowhere near among the best of the series like Spies, Booby Traps and The Goldbrick(for me it's actually one of the weakest), Operation Snafu is worth a look.The black and white animation is beautifully done, all the drawing is crisp and smooth and the black and white colours is attractive. You can always rely on Carl Stalling to write great music, and the music certainly is here, rhythmically it's very lively, the orchestration is lushly vibrant and it adds hugely to the action, it's in a way the heart and soul of the cartoon and the component that gives it its energy. The humour is mostly amusing(the geisha gag being the highlight), though it is never hilarious, and delivered in a lively fashion, the cartoon moves very quickly so it always feels energetic at least and while the Japanese character is a little stereotypical and makes you more crack a smile at most rather than laugh out loud Snafu is endearing and provides plenty of entertainment.Operation Snafu takes a bit of time to get going, the action only properly takes off when Snafu appears on the scene and that's a little less than halfway through. There are also much funnier and more daring Private Snafu cartoons, the cartoon is rather atypical for Private Snafu, not saying or teaching an awful lot that feels fresh, and does veer on propaganda in places. The main running gag mostly entertains but a little over-utilised and some instances are more interesting than others. Mel Blanc is also rather wasted, he was a brilliant voice actor who elevated almost every cartoon he contributed to to a higher level but here he only has one line and it's neither funny or memorable. All in all, watchable but only just slightly above average. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is a short in the Private Snafu series of training films done by Warner Brothers during World War II under a contract with the US Army. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a bit different from the general run of Private Snafu shorts. For one thing, Snafu is actually not a complete idiot here and can be considered relatively competent and even somewhat heroic. He has his moments of Snafuness, to be sure, but he actually succeeds to a greater degree than is typical of these shorts.This is less a training film in the traditional sense, rather this is comedic propaganda more for entertainment purposes. The section of the short where Snafu dresses as a geisha is a touch unsettling, as he's not a very good looking man and he's even less appealing in drag. The geisha scene sounds like it may use some Gilbert and Sullivan as soundtrack.There's a running gag involving the Japanese and ritualistic bowing, which Snafu uses more than once to help him get away with some secret plans. Overall, this is an average short, not quite as interesting to me as other shorts in the series, but still moderately entertaining in any case.This short is available on various DVDs and also online. It's worth watching if you like the series.