The Home Front

Frank Tashlin's 'The Home Front' is one of the more lifeless Private Snafu shorts, a series of cartoons made as instructional films for the military. Rather than have Snafu take some inadvisable actions leading to disaster, 'The Home Front' instead focuses on his loved ones back home and how much they have to offer to the war effort too. Snafu realises he was wrong when he thought they had it easy. It's a concept with few possibilities for good gags and instead Tashlin plays the risqué card more heavily, extended jokes involving strippers and scantily clad dancing girls in place of much effective comic relief. The result is a well-meaning short which has little relevance or entertainment value today other than as an historical artefact.

This is another SNAFU propaganda film. The Private is stationed in an icy clime and is fed up that others in our country don't care that he is doing his duty. Of course, he is shown how people he thinks are worthless are actually assisting the war effort, big time. There are tanks, and destroyers, and food and everything you can imaging because the people are helping out. There was some of that, but we know it's not so simple.

Snafu is disliking the weather at the military campgrounds. He starts to picture how much fun his family and girlfriend are having back home. And not knowing how bad the war is.

Until Technical Fairy First Class appears and show Snafu what his Dad, Mom, Grandpa, and girlfriend are doing back home.

This Snafu short has references to the War jobs that are offered during WW2. Including Tank plants, Victory Gardens, Ship Building and W.A.C. It points out that the Soldiers aren't alone in the war as there's a lot of support back home for them to win the war.

It's another good Snafu short. Has some jokes here and there. And a small scene that shows Snafu's vision of his Girlfriend going out with a taller more handsome guy who stares at her breasts when he says "What large eyes you have" Which is the only mature theme you'd see in this short.

Whenever I see a WWII-themed cartoon - whether a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon or a Pvt. Snafu cartoon - it reminds me that the government no longer tells us to actually contribute things to the war effort (except of course to get killed). "The Home Front" portrays Snafu in a miserably cold setting assuming that his friends and family are sitting pretty; specifically that grandpa is watching a striptease! But then, a sort of guardian angel appears and shows Snafu by TV that everyone is contributing to the war effort.

So, it was wartime propaganda, but a clever form thereof. Not to mention that some of the stuff here would have been R-rated for the era (of course, these shorts didn't get shown in theaters). Worth seeing.

The Home Front is worth seeing definitely, but Frank Tashlin has done better and there are better Private Snafu cartoons around. That the cartoon is very risqué and daring for the time is very admirable and definitely one of The Home Front's interest points. Those elements are a little over-used though and can get in the way of the gags. The World War 2 references and the depiction of what was happening during the time are also of great interest, but it's also very firmly rooted in that time in history and people will find it somewhat irrelevant now. The Home Front is a long way from a bad cartoon however. It is very well animated in all respects. The music is characterful and lively as you'd expect and synchronises with what's happening on-screen really well. Having the use of Beethoven is a bonus and having it as kind of a code theme is clever, though once or twice is probably enough for the use of the opening bars of the 5th symphony in one cartoon, a great piece of music and surely everybody is familiar with(regardless of whether they like classical music or not) but when used several times it's a little overkill. The gags are well-timed and are at least amusing, the best of them are very funny. The story is nothing special structurally but crisply paced and not attention-wavering-inducing. And Snafu even when being the worst ever soldier/private is a very likable character, while having Mel Blanc on board for the voices is always going to bring a cartoon up a notch or two. On the whole, a good but not great Private Snafu cartoon, it's of good interest value too although the risqué elements are a little too heavily laid on and some may question its relevance now. 7/10 Bethany Cox