NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Steineded How sad is this?

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . on the U.S. Taxpayer Dime during the height of World War Two, as evidenced by this mood adjustment cartoon commissioned by the U.S. Army, PRIVATE SNAFU: GRIPES. Snafu, supposedly a representative average Joe, is revealed as being Gay by Warner's Looney Tuners through multiple means. In this GRIPES episode, the Black-Bra-and-Pantied "Girlie" tattoo on Snafu's upper left arm faces away from the viewer, flaunting "her" butt as the Business End. "She" lets out an orgiastic yelp when a "doctor's needle" pokes "her" in this alluring butt. Then Snafu himself is "doctor butt-poked." Besides butt-poking, Snafu's "GRIPES" focus on solitary potato-peeling, featuring a repetitive hand motion that looks a lot like Onan's Sin. THEN, when Onan--oops, I mean, when SNAFU--is surrounded by three harem gals (2:38 to 2:44), the left one being totally bottomless to ease his access, he flees the scene to face a highly improbable attack by German (long-range!) bombers on his U.S. training base. Add to all of this evidence the fact that Snafu is always pictured by Warner with what they label as his (imaginary) "fairy" friend, and you have a Strong Case that Warner's taxpayer-funded "Every Soldier" is Gay. That American "Military Intelligence" and the U.S. War Censor Board swallowed Snafu's bone of contention shows how "thinking outside the box" enabled America to whip the Axis Powers.

TheLittleSongbird Not among the best of the Private Snafu cartoons like Spies and Booby Traps are but Gripes, the second cartoon in the series, while very predictable and slightly slow-starting is a solid early effort. The backgrounds are very crisply drawn, the black and white holds up well and the character animation is expressive enough, overall Gripes is very nicely animated. Gripes also has a highly characterful and energetic music score in unmistakable Carl Stalling fashion, the use of pre-existing tunes was well-done, and while predictable and with one of the most bizarre concepts of any Private Snafu cartoon the story is not once dull and does a good job sustaining the very short length of the cartoon(only 4 minutes), the message is not much different from other Private Snafu cartoons but makes its point effectively and in a way that's not heavy-handed. Gripes scores highly in the humour and writing department too, there are wittier and more daring Private Snafu cartoons but the often rhyming dialogue is very smart and even hearing it you'll have no trouble figuring out that it's Dr Seuss behind it. And the cartoon is full of gags that are very odd but in an endearing way and not only are a lot of them ahead of their time- though the series has had even more daring material than this- but they're funny too(if admittedly more so from an adult perspective), the best of which relating to bottoms. Snafu while very inept, which is basically what the Private Snafu cartoons are about, is still a very likable protagonist and the Technical Fairy is hilariously witty, both of which wonderfully voiced by Mel Blanc. Overall, not one of the best of the series but still solid stuff and makes for 4 entertaining minutes. 8/10 Bethany Cox

slymusic "Gripes" is a very good Warner Bros. cartoon made specifically for all the various branches of the United States Army. Starring Pvt. Snafu (voiced by Mel Blanc) and featuring quite a bit of rhymed verse by Dr. Seuss, this short has our hero on KP duty, peeling a gigantic mound of potatoes. You think Snafu likes it? Nah! So he fantasizes about how much relaxation he & his fellow soldiers could have if HE were in charge of things.There are three sequences in "Gripes" that I especially like. First, Snafu's scantily-clad female tattoo gets an injection in the ass, after which Snafu gets an injection in his OWN ass! Second, an aerial bomb halts in midair where it produces a pair of mechanical arms digging Snafu out of the ground and placing a bull's-eye target on his ass. And third, a group of happy soldiers go cruising with a few chicks while they sing a "Hooray for Snafu" song, and another soldier in an outhouse - I sure am talking a lot about asses, ain't I? - remarks how glad he is about not having to clean any more latrines; then another soldier struts around with a catchy rhyme about his zoot suit.You can catch "Gripes" as one of the bonus cartoons on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 3.

MartinHafer 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.In this film, Snafu spends too much time griping about life in the military--in particular all the discipline. So, in an odd twist, his fairy godfather (of sorts) shows him what life would be like if Snafu was in charge. Next, you see the soldiers running amok and all discipline is out the window...with very predictable results.This film manages to convey the message to troops in a very funny yet effective way. However, it is still great viewing today--even if you aren't a soldier.