Booby Traps

Booby Traps (1944)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This entry into the series has Pvt. Snafu out in the field where he's being warned that there are many enemy booby traps but he believes he's too smart to fall for any of them. We then see several examples including a woman with some big boobs that are actually bombs and another piece with a horse. BOOBY TRAPS is another decent entry in the series, which was used to train U.S. military members and do so with some humor. Snafu is voiced by Mel Blanc and you can easily hear some Bugs Bunny in the character. For the most part his was entertaining but at just around four minutes there's certainly nothing too deep here. The adult themed humor was certainly a plus.

Apparently the Private Snafu was a regular when it came to films warning soldiers of danger. The goofy Private can't quite get the message that when he lets his emotions and hormones take over, his next act may be his last. He is tempted by hidden land mines, exploding pianos, nubile women, on and on. Of course, he is an absolute idiot because he is warned frequently and can't wait to get himself done in. Some of my Vietnam War friends told of unique types of traps positioned by the enemy, most of which worked on the kindness and compassion of some of the American soldiers. I may check another of these Snafu things out at a later time.

Of the mostly thoroughly enjoyable Private Snafu cartoons two have stood out as being particularly great, one was Spies and the other was this. Booby Traps, like a lot of Private Snafu cartoons, could have benefited from a longer length, but really there was next to nothing wrong here even if there are a few parts that are not for the easily offended(ie. the mechanical Hitler). Booby Traps is beautifully and inventively animated, and has a music score bursting with energy and colour(it never trivialises the action, instead it enhances it, then again what do you expect from Carl Stalling?). The dialogue is a chock-full of razor-sharp wit, especially the sparring between Snafu and the narrator, and there are some great gags if very adult and quite daring for back then(not a criticism, just to let viewers know what to expect). Especially funny were the camel with the attached bomb and the scantily clad ladies, the ending's hilarious too. The narration is brilliantly sardonic and Snafu, for a character so inept, is truly endearing, the joke that he does simple things so wrong never wearing thin. The voice acting from Mel Blanc doesn't disappoint and Robert C. Bruce is a witty narrator. Overall, a great cartoon and one of the best Private Snafu cartoons. 9/10 Bethany Cox

OK, so "Booby Traps" is chock full of non-PC material, quite offensive in the 21st century. As long as we understand that, it's one of the funniest things imaginable, made as a warning to American soldiers about rigged objects. Dim-witted soldier Pvt. Snafu - complete with his Bugs Bunny-like voice - is trudging through the north African desert, when he comes across a building full of scantily clad babes (I don't think that they would really allow that in a Muslim country). As expected, Snafu not only gets as horny as possible, but the whole building is rigged. By which I mean that when they say "booby" traps, they really mean it! So, it's a true guilty pleasure. Seeing some of those women, I might have easily fallen into the trap! Pretty fun.

Another Private Snafu short made for use by the U.S. Army during World War II. As always, Snafu is refusing to follow proper procedures and thinks he's smarter than he actually is. This time he's in the North African desert, where he's warned about booby traps but does what he wants anyway. He comes across a series of traps that are obviously unrealistic but the point was to instruct the soldiers on how to be more careful by using humor rather than making them sit through a dry educational film. Mel Blanc provides the voice for Snafu and has some funny lines that were racy for the time. The runtime is brief (four minutes) but it packs a lot in there. The animation is nice and the gags are funny. The best part is the harem. Really puts the 'boob' in booby trap.