Private SNAFU

[gilligan fanati]

I was watching a video on Private SNAFU called THe Cartoons Go To War and it was intresting. I have seen like four of the shorts and they are good. On the Toonheads special they repeated a lot of the same stuff on The Cartoons Go to War tape. So these were never put in theaters and they were just show to the armies. I would like to know what happened to the shorts after the war ended.

[dnestorjr]

there are some still in circulation that have been transfered to DVD out there that you can get.

[Cartman]

there are some still in circulation that have been transfered to DVD out there that you can get.
Two of them (SPIES and BOOBY TRAPS) are on the Cartoon Crazys: Banned and Censored DVD.

[RetroMan]

This makes me curious - what happened to the unreleased SNAFU shorts? The titles are Secrets of the Caribbean and Coming Home

[cbrubaker]

Rhino Home Video released two VHS with SNAFU a while back. The transfer is pretty bad but interesting to watch, at least.

Were SNAFU shorts released to armies as 16mm instead of 35mm? I saw eBay auctions for 16mm SNAFU and I know they wern't shown in TV back in the kinescope days (or did they?) and the transfers in circulation looks like it's a 16mm print.

[GeorgeC]

This makes me curious - what happened to the unreleased SNAFU shorts? The titles are Secrets of the Caribbean and Coming Home


The unreleased SNAFU shorts got stored in vaults until copies ended up in private collections.

Bosko Video did a full collection of the SNAFU shorts (INCLUDING the unreleased films) that was transferred to DVD about 6 years ago. Unfortunately, that DVD is out-of-print (and expensive as hell on the second-hand/used market) and like most collections the quality of the shorts ranged from acceptable to worn.

Most of the shorts, especially the earlier ones with rhyming by Dr. Seuss, are very good and still entertaining today. I guess the only ones I didn't care for were some of the later ones featuring SNAFU relatives and UPA-style art. Those shorts just didn't click for me.

Right now, I think the federal government probably has the best copies of the shorts somewhere in storage. I kinda hope that somehow better copies or transfers of the original negatives, if they still exist, could somehow find their way onto a new DVD collection.

I know I'd snap them up in an instant!

[cbrubaker]

Video did a full collection of the SNAFU shorts (INCLUDING the unreleased films) that was transferred to DVD about 6 years ago.Actually, while GOING HOME was in that DVD, Secrets of Carribean have not. In fact, the only known copy is somewhere in Library of Congress. Hopefully, WB will dig it up for the future LT-GC sets/

[dnestorjr]

I am on the verge of obtaining this toons on DVD. Took some tracking but I may get them.

[Cartman]

This makes me curious - what happened to the unreleased SNAFU shorts? The titles are Secrets of the Caribbean and Coming Home
COMING HOME is on the Toonheads episode "Cartoon Newsreels."

[gilligan fanati]

I wish that DVD set was still avaliable.

[bobchief]

Rhino Home Video released two VHS with SNAFU a while back. The transfer is pretty bad but interesting to watch, at least.

Were SNAFU shorts released to armies as 16mm instead of 35mm? I saw eBay auctions for 16mm SNAFU and I know they wern't shown in TV back in the kinescope days (or did they?) and the transfers in circulation looks like it's a 16mm print.They couldn't be shown on regular TV due to frequent uses of 'damn', 'hell' and other non-film/TV-friendly words. :mad:

They had to be 16mm because the large projectors used for 35mm couldn't be hauled between, or installed at, most remote military facilities. 16mm projectors (to which I was personally exposed at a young age) were portable, although still noticeably bulky to carry.

[GeorgeC]

I wish that DVD set was still avaliable.



No, the Bosko copies of the SNAFU shorts were released on one DVD. Before the DVD, they had come out on 2 VHS tapes.

The sources for the SNAFU shorts on the Bosko collection were mainly from private collectors. The DVD was still the only way to get a close-to-complete SNAFU collection, but most people that have the DVD would agree that a transfer of film prints in better condition would be fantastic.

It's a shame that the SNAFU shorts are yet another example of cartoons neglected because they have such a fine pedigree behind them. You have a series kicked off by Frank Capra (he was the sponsor for it), a series directed by some of WB's best Golden Age directors (Chuck Jones and Tashlin?), one of the last shorts series produced by Leon Schlesinger (he got sued by the government and lost the rights to produce the series after some questionable overcharges), a series with episodes written by THE Dr. Seuss(!), and a series that isn't dumbed down but has humor that's held up well.

I totally agree with the people that love these shorts that it would be boffo if the BEST quality prints surviving were transferred into a collection that would make the Bosko DVD look like @#$#%!

I'm not sure it'll happen, but it would be great.

(The Bosko SNAFU DVD was one of the things besides the Disney features release that got me to jump on board the DVD bandwagon in late 1999...)

[RetroMan]

While we're on the subject of rare wartime, for-servicemen-only films: Besides a brief inclusion the lost cartoons episode of Toonheads, whatever became of the Seaman Hook shorts?

[frogboxer]

Are you talking about this DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305339856/qid%3D1111121328/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-0419834-7379860)?

[cbrubaker]

whatever became of the Seaman Hook shorts?I asked Jerry Beck about Hook, and he said that HOOK was unknown until a War vetern found film prints in his garage. He gave it to Jerry and the staff during the making of A&E documentry on war cartoon, thinking they were Private Snafu shorts. Instead, they discovered a lost piece of Termite Terrace and Walter Lantz.

The film prints that were discovered, unfortunatly crumpled to ashes, but luckily, they were transferred to video before that happened, so in a way, the shorts still exist.

Hank Ketcham created HOOK when he was still an animator at Walter Lantz and I think published a model sheet for the character in one of his DENNIS THE MENACE book.

[GeorgeC]

Are you talking about this DVD (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305339856/qid%3D1111121328/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-0419834-7379860)?

Yep, that's the only SNAFU DVD that's been released so far.

Other DVDs have a couple of SNAFU shorts on them, but that DVD you linked to is the ONLY one that's only-and-all-about SNAFU!

Pretty darn expensive now that it's out-of-print! I'm glad I got it back in 2000...:bugs2:

[frogboxer]

Pretty darn expensive now that it's out-of-print! I'm glad I got it back in 2000...Yeah, I'm glad I got mine when I did, too. I can't believe some of the prices they're asking for now!:eek:

[Roar]

I bought my copies 15 months ago for 13$ a piece at digitaleyes.net, but I don't think they have it anymore. However I have seen it listed at a Danish site (www.laserdisken.dk) (http://www.laserdisken.dk)/) to what equals to 30$. But if you live in the US you should count on an additional 30$ in shipping, handling and insurance.



Anyway I hope they will reissue them in better quality some day (HINT WB)!



- Roar

[MF TOON]

I would just like to know how to get a replacement cover for my severely broken and dented snap case.

[rkish]

While we're on the subject of rare wartime, for-servicemen-only films: Besides a brief inclusion the lost cartoons episode of Toonheads, whatever became of the Seaman Hook shorts?(3) Hook cartoons were included on Side 8 (Supplemental Material) on Volume 5 of "The Golden Age of Looney Tunes" laserdisc boxset and include:

"The Return of Mr. Hook" - WWII Hook cartoon - B&W
"The Good Egg" - WWII Hook cartoon - B&W
"Tokyo Woes" - WWII Hook cartoon - B&W