Many of the Private Snafu cartoons are very enjoyable, being very well-made, entertaining and educational with good morals and interesting historical and instructional material. Even lesser ones like 'It's Murder She Says' and 'Operation Snafu' are still very much watchable. Even when inept, Snafu is still very much endearing and fun for a vast majority of his cartoons, excepting 'The Chow Hound' and his too short appearance in 'In the Aleutians'.
'Gas' is not one of the best Private Snafu cartoons like 'Spies', 'The Goldbrick', 'Infantry Blues', 'Booby Traps' and 'Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike', but it is a very good cartoon and effectively makes its point of the importance of wearing a gas mask. As creepy as those things looked (doesn't help when they have been portrayed in the past in a nightmarishly creepy way, like a 'Dr Who' episode for example), they certainly were important in protecting one against things that would have made them ill or worse killed them if not worn.
Like a lot of Private Snafu cartoons, 'Gas' is a very short cartoon, with the 3 minute running time feeling rather brief, and occasionally it's slightly rushed.
However, 'Gas' is very well-animated though with fluid character designs, detailed and not sparse backgrounds and lively colours/shadings. The gas cloud is very creative visually in particular. Carl Stalling always did write outstanding music for the many cartoons he scored for and that is true for 'Gas', the orchestration is very lush and the pacing is characteristically lively.
Snafu is endearing and amusing, and while not exactly wild the writing is very funny yet is also educational without talking down to the viewer. The voice acting from Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher is great.
In conclusion, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
