Snafuperman
Snafuperman is a 1944 animated short comedy produced by Warner Brothers Pictures and directed by Friz Freleng. It is one of a series of black and white "Private Snafu" 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".
Synopsis
Technical Fairy, First Class—a miniature, shirtless, gravel-voiced G.I. with wings, who appears in nine of the shorts—grants Private Snafu the powers of Superman in order to fight the Nazis. But Snafu is still Snafu. Even with his new powers, he screws things up by refusing to read his training manuals. Because of this he tries dropping bombs on Berlin, only to accidentally fly over DC. He in the Pacific he misidentifies friend from foe, attacking his general's tank. Finally he stops aerial bombs from falling, not identifying them as time bombs. Injured from the time bombs, Snafu demands a field manual from his fairy.
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's Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 and Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition. (Coincidentally, Warner Bros. and Superman's publishers, DC Comics, merged in 1969, which made the cartoon's inclusion in the latter set possible.)
See also
- List of Private Snafu shorts
- Sponsored film
- List of films in the public domain
References
Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, NY, 1987, p. 254
External links
- Snafuperman at the Internet Movie Database
- The short film Snafuperman is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]