''Snafuperman'' is a 1944 animated short comedy produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and directed by

Friz Freleng Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

. It is one of a series of black and white "

Private Snafu Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional adult animated shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The films were designed to instruct servi ...

" cartoons created for the ''Army-Navy Screen Magazine'' and shown only to American soldiers. The "Private Snafu" cartoons were not released commercially, until December 2010. The cartoon's title is a play on "

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

" and parodies the popular Superman cartoons of the 1940s.

Synopsis

Snafu annoys his fellow soldiers by listening to loud

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

and banging pots and pans in rhythm. The other soldiers at the barracks are busy studying maps, field manuals, and air recognition charts. Snafu dismisses their interest in studying, and claims he is not going to clunk the enemy over the head with books.Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 192 In response, Technical Fairy, First Class—a miniature, shirtless, gravel-voiced

G.I. G.I. are initials used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Air Force and general items of their equipment. The term G.I. has been used as an initialism of "Government Issue", "General Issue", or " ...

with wings, who appears in nine of the shorts—grants Private Snafu the powers of

in order to fight the Nazis. But Snafu is still Snafu. His first task is to transport a bomb to Berlin and bomb it. He refuses to read a map and ends up in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He drops the bomb over the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

. The Fairy stops the bomb and informs Snafu that the Americans are on their side, and Snafu melts into a puddle in the air in embarrassment over his near blunder. His next task involves stopping a "lumbering Japanese tank". He has actually misidentified an American tank and angers its commander, an American general. He nervously salutes the officer. He next spots "a mess of Messerschmitts" about to bomb an American port. He successfully intercepts their

aerial bomb An aerial bomb is a type of explosive or incendiary weapon intended to travel through the air on a predictable trajectory. Engineers usually develop such bombs to be dropped from an aircraft. The use of aerial bombs is termed aerial bombing. ...

s and piles them up on a pier. As he proudly sits upon the pile, while claiming that they're harmless as a burned out match, he fails to recognize the

delay-action bomb A delay-action bomb is an aerial bomb designed to explode some time after impact, with the bomb's fuzes set to delay the explosion for times ranging from very brief to several weeks. Short delays are used to allow the bomb to penetrate before explod ...

s among them. They explode beneath him. As a result of his own ignorance, Snafu ends up hospitalized. The Fairy visits him, asking if there is anything he could do. Snafu angrily demands a field manual, ending the short.

Analysis

The short is one of several satirical takes on Superman produced during World War II. The purpose of the short was to entertain and educate low-literacy enlisted men.Weldon (2013), p. 68-69 Snafu ends up doing the wrong thing because of his refusal to read his field manual.Weldon (2013), p. 68-69 The short uses a segment of

Sammy Timberg Samuel Timberg (May 21, 1903 – August 26, 1992) was an American musician and composer for the stage, film studios, and television. Biography Timberg was born in New York City to a Jewish family originating in Austria, youngest son of Israel and ...

's theme for Superman, which was previously heard in the Superman shorts by

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

and

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...

. Because the ''Private Snafu'' shorts were meant exclusively meant to educate US soldiers and not for public viewing, Stalling was able to use the song without any legal issues.

Availability

The "Private Snafu" cartoons have fallen into the public domain and are widely available in free downloads and on unofficial VHS and DVD releases. Many have also been released officially. ''Snafuperman'' is a bonus feature on

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

's '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3'' and '' Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition''. (Coincidentally, Warner Bros. and Superman's publishers,

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, merged in 1969, which made the cartoon's inclusion in the latter set possible.)

Sources

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References

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

, ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons'', NY, 1987, p. 254

External links

* * {{Friz Freleng , state=collapsed 1944 films 1940s parody films 1944 animated films 1940s animated superhero films American animated comedy films American animated superhero films American animated science fiction films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Parody superheroes American superhero comedy films Private Snafu Short films directed by Friz Freleng Films set in Washington, D.C. Articles containing video clips Films scored by Carl Stalling American parody films Films produced by Leon Schlesinger 1944 comedy films 1940s Warner Bros. animated short films 1940s American films

Synopsis

Analysis

Availability

See also

Sources

References

References

External links