It's Murder She Says...

For me, Spies and Booby Traps are the best of a mostly entertaining series, a series of cartoons that's funny, educational, mostly daring with a title character that's endearing despite its ineptness. It's Murder She Says is well worth the watch, and is on the whole a decent cartoon in general. But it had the potential to be great, instead It's Murder She Said is one of the weaker.

Is it educational? Yes it is, it's a good subject with a great message that is not delivered at all in a heavy-handed way. Is it funny? In spades, but it is never what I call hilarious, more amusing if anything and could have been more consistent. Is it daring? No, a good deal of the Private Snafu cartoons having risqué and ahead-of-their-time elements but It's Murder She Said is surprisingly tame considering the subject. The pacing could have been crisper too.

The animation is very good though, the black and white is sumptuous and crisp in quality, the drawing is fluid and the backgrounds are nicely detailed. Carl Stalling was a very consistent composer, whose music scores was always one of the best things of the cartoons featuring them, and that's true of It's Murder She Says. The rhythmic energy enhances what happens very well and it's beautifully orchestrated. The cartoon's cleverly scripted, though Dr Seuss has been funnier, and the two lead characters do a great job carrying the cartoon. Annie is an enormously entertaining and sometimes poignant character who brings a lot of verve here and while underused Snafu is very endearing. The voice acting is very good from some of the greatest and most consistent voice actors of the time, and the narration amuses and teaches.

All in all, not one of Snafu's finest hours but still decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Another entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during World War II. This one's directed by Chuck Jones and barely features Snafu. It focuses on how malaria is on the decline because of proper military safeguards. The joke is that malaria is represented by a busty haggard old female mosquito and the short treats malaria almost like a venereal disease. Very funny stuff. I don't know how effective it would've been at actually getting its point across but, then again, I doubt many of these instructional shorts were seen as anything more than diverting entertainment by the servicemen. Excellent black & white animation. Creative and clever writing. Nice voice work. Really a treat. Unlike the reviewers before me, I think this is one of the best in the series, even if Snafu is barely in it.

During WWII, many American filmmakers gave up their normal jobs and began working for the US government in order to make army training films. Among these filmmakers were also animators, such as Chuck Jones, Hugh Harmon and Dr. Seuss. Of these training films, the ones that hold up best and are generally a lot of fun to see are the Private Snafu shorts. They are funny, occasionally VERY crude (as they were meant to be seen by soldiers not the general public) and quite informative--passing on needed advice to soldiers about a variety of topics.

"It's Murder She Says..." is kind of a Private Snafu film. I say 'kind of' because he's really barely in it and doesn't even speak. Instead the main character is a down and out mosquito infected with Malaria and she reminisces about the good old days before mosquito control. Her advice clearly is to warn soldiers to take preventative measures....or else.

The problem with this short is without Snafu and humor, all you're left with is an animated training film....which has much more limited appeal today. Instead, I recommend you watch "Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike"....a similar film but with a high dose of fun! Both are available on YouTube.