Going Home

Our knuckleheaded Private comes home from the war, but it is still going on. He proceeds to brag and give out "information," not realizing that he was privy to secrets that he should be keeping. This implies that there may be spies everywhere, especially attractive young women. As he talks about these things, the war effort suffers serious setbacks. I guess you had to be there.

A fun entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during WW2. Directed by Chuck Jones with rhyming dialogue courtesy of Dr. Seuss, this one was actually never released. The story is a simple one about Snafu coming home on leave and running his mouth to everybody that will listen, spilling his guts about things he shouldn't, which ultimately ends in disaster for the military. It's not known for sure why this short was shelved, though its depiction of a secret weapon being used against the Japanese that is similar to the atomic bomb is often suspected to be the main reason. The black & white animation is very nice. The sexy women are a highlight. Mel Blanc's voice work is flawless, as usual. It's a brief but amusing short with a lot of interesting elements.

Going Home (1944)

*** (out of 4)

This War Department short warns soldiers of the dangers of going home and running their mouths. Private Snafu gets to go home where he begins talking to anyone who will listen to him. He talks about certainly classified material and before you know it several American soldiers are dead. GOING HOME is one of the better entries in the series as it's highly entertaining on a number of levels including the fact that there's some adult material here. Just check out the dame in the theater who Snafu runs his mouth to. The sexual innuendo with her rather large boobs was obviously something that general audiences at the time wouldn't have been able to see. Once again the animation is extremely good and especially one scene where we see Japan get leveled. Fans of the series are certainly going to enjoy the humor as well as the dark ending.

The Private Snafu films were clearly made to be seen by soldiers and not by the general public. The dirty jokes, sexual innuendos and language is relatively tame today but never would have been allowed in the regular theaters due to the Production Code. But, such off-color remarks went over very well with the enlisted men and helped to illustrate important information in a humorous and memorable fashion.

According to IMDb, this short was never released to the servicemen because apparently a section talking about some "super-bomb" was considered to be too close to the secret atomic bomb that the country was working on at the time. However, today you can see and enjoy it.

Snafu comes home for a visit and as usual, he's a total idiot--and very reminiscent of his other film, SPIES. He talks and talks and accidentally gives out vital information concerning his unit...and naturally the enemy is able to use this against us. Clever, yes, but also not quite as crazy and funny as the usual Snafu film.

Not one of the best of the Private Snafu series, Spies and Booby Traps are my personal favourites but it is certainly worth watching. There are funnier Snafu cartoons around, by all means it is still fun and amusing but Snafu over-explaining things gets a bit too much, and there are others also in the series that are more daring and have more energy. The animation flows very smoothly though and looks good even now, while the music is lush and lively with good use of pre-existing tunes. Going Home may not be the funniest Private Snafu cartoon around but the humour still succeeds thanks to the witty rhyming dialogue and narration and never-less-than-amusing visual gags. If you are familiar with the formula the series adopts, all revolving around Snafu's ineptness in the army, the story isn't going to hold that many surprises but it's hardly tired or dull and it handles its serious message admirably, laying it on too thick or poking too much fun at it were very easy traps to fall into and Going Home manages to avoid both of them. Snafu as ever is endearing and lots of fun to watch and the narration entertains and teaches, good chemistry between the two too. Frank Graham fills the narrator role beautifully and even better is the versatile and always consistent Mel Blanc, making Snafu a hugely entertaining character as well as a touchingly likable one. All in all, there are better cartoons in the Private Snafu series but Going Home is solid stuff still. 7/10 Bethany Cox