Spies
Spies
NR | 01 August 1943 (USA)
Spies Trailers

The doltish but self-confident and self-congratulatory Private Snafu is in possession of a military secret during World War II. Over the course of the day, spouting rhymed couplets, he divulges the secret a little at a time to listening Axis spies. He tells his mom some of the secret when he calls her from a phone booth; the rest he spills to a dolly dolly spy who plies him with liquor. Snafu's loose lips put himself at risk.

Reviews
Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"Spies" runs for 3.5 minutes, is in black-and-white, directed by Chuck Jones and voice acting comes from Mel Blanc. This one shows us how Snafu cannot keep a secret and enemies have their eyes and ears everywhere, so they know all about Snafu's plans. This was a pretty entertaining watch, packed with nice political references and we seven see Hitler as Satan in the end. I can totally see why this Snafu cartoon is more popular than most of the others. It is better in terms of humor, but also more relevant in terms of political context. And it actually tells an important message to soldiers. Be quiet about what you know if you talk to people that you cannot 100% trust. This somehow applies today as well. A very entertaining film and I very much recommend it. My favorite Snafu.

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OldAle1

I have no idea if this is typical of the Snafu series, many directed by Jones and written by Dr. Seuss, but I certainly want to see more even if this does not show either master at his very best. Here our private in question blabs his orders to anybody and everybody after vowing to keep it all secret, and of course all the voluptuous babes, bartenders, and even a little guy inside the telephone box end up being broadly caricatured Japanese, German and Italian spies. It all ends quite literally with a big bang and a trip to Hell. Propaganda at it's finest, if awfully frenetic and short.The copy I watched was from "Treasures of American Cinema", volume I, a four-disc set of mostly early shorts and features, all beautifully restored and remastered, with excellent notes and music - an essential set for anyone who wants to better know the history of the American film.

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slymusic

"Spies" is one of a handful of clandestine Warner Bros. cartoons that were made for all the American servicemen who were involved in World War II. This film features Private Snafu, a rather stupid soldier who does everything wrong, and of all the Private Snafu cartoons I have seen thus far, I strongly feel that "Spies" is by far the funniest. Snafu has a military secret that he is determined not to reveal to anyone, but as expected, he fouls up and inadvertently tips off a lot of German and Japanese eavesdroppers.My favorite moments from "Spies" include the following (but please do yourself a favor and watch this cartoon first before reading any further). Two of the spies are German moose heads whose antlers form a swastika. Field Marshal Goering (hilariously voiced by Mel Blanc) opens a secret panel and reports to Hitler, "Heil! The troop ship bound for Africa pulls out at half past four!" And at the end, Snafu gets torpedoed and winds up in a cooking pot in Hades; after angrily inquiring the audience as to who could have blown his secret, Snafu receives his answer from Hitler (appearing as Satan) and four other Nazi devils! "Spies" is a cartoon that was understandably quite offensive toward the Germans and the Japanese. Perhaps the most vulgar scene in this cartoon is that of a female Nazi spy who woos the drunken Snafu into chatting with her and ultimately blowing his secret; a swastika appears on both of the woman's breasts, which serve as a type of radar! But what makes this cartoon especially funny is the fact that the dialogue, created by Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), is almost entirely in rhyme. (Some might find it odd that Dr. Seuss, much more well-known for his children's books, would take part in such offensive material.) To conclude, the moral lesson in "Spies" is quite obvious: DO NOT under any circumstances discuss military matters in public!

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emasterslake

The flow of the story and gags work perfectly in this one.All has to do with Snafu trying not to reveal a secret to the spies that are following him.This was made back when Germany and Japan was the enemy of America. So allot of the spies are mostly German, Japanese or just some sneaky looking fellas.what also cool is it's the only Snafu cartoon with a cartoon version of Hitler himself.Please note that this film is banned along with other Snafu shorts due to it having racist stuff on the Japanese.So I won't recommend showing this to anyone who is Japanese or German to prevent any offending.besides that it is a great WW2 short.

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