Snafuperman [Impossible Voyages #22] – Blue Towel Productions

As mentioned previously, in “Impossible Voyages” I’m watching and writing about a run of new (to me) science fiction films to be watched over last year, which has extended to this year (2026). You can read the rationale and ground rules here. In the meantime, we are advancing from 1943 to 1944 with this movie, #22 in this series.

Generally, for the 40s, I’ve only been able to find a few films eligible for this series from each year, and even less if I limit myself to things I can find easily. As I got to 1944, after watching two back-to-back ape-into-man or man-into-ape features, and even more monster movies in a row, I felt like I needed a change of pace. And that’s how we got here, with a five minute animated film. The only problem is that I thought I might have watched it before, collected alongside the Fleischer Studios / Famous Studios Superman animated films. But after watching it this time, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen the whole thing.

Spoilers Ahead

Snafuperman (1944)

Directed by Friz Freling

The Story:  The Technical Fairy, First Class, shows up to Private Snafu at his barracks and offers to give him the powers of Superman so he can fight Nazi’s in World War II. Because of his disregard of field manuals and other basic information, he makes continual mistakes, including almost attacking the United States. After being badly injured by a bunch of bombs that he thought were harmless, he cries out for a field manual.

Starring: Mel Blanc as the voice of Private Snafu and the Technical Fairy. Tedd Pierce is amongst the cast, as a soldier studying technical plans.

Comments: So, Snafuperman is one of about twenty-five Private Snafu cartoons, which were produced by Warner Bros. specifically for an audience of American soldiers. The idea behind the cartoons was to teach many of the illiterate soldiers various principles of army life, including sanitation, security and other military subjects in a way that was funny and also boosted morale. In Snafuperman, the message is clearly that it’s worthwhile to study your field manual and other pieces of information.

It starts with Private Snafu making all sorts of noise to the irritation of his bunkmates who are trying to look at maps or charts that identify enemy aircraft, and mocking their concerns by saying he’s not planning to attack the enemy with books. He’s granted the opportunity to become Superman by the “Technical Fairy, First Class” (an imp in the form a miniature soldier, who was apparently a recurring character in this series). Off he goes to win the the war by himself, but because of his ignorance he 1) almost drops a bomb on Washington DC, 2) attacks a United States tank and 3) successfully prevents a bombing of an American target by gathering all the bombs, but fails to realize they have a delayed action timer. Thus he winds up in the hospital, demanding a field manual from the fairy.

The cartoon is only five minutes long but it’s pretty impressive how much they are able to pack into that little bit of runtime. The premise is clear, the message is unmistakable, and the story builds and progresses in a way that is genuinely interesting. It’s funny, but it doesn’t just rattle off a bunch of jokes in a row–it paces things out and builds story-tension in a way that holds our attention. The climax shows Snafu apparently doing something good, by catching all the enemy bombs…before it hits us with the punchline of the delayed action timer. We know something is going to happen, but it’s still satisfying when it does.

Of course it’s also war-time military propaganda, but at least there aren’t any uncomfortable depictions of the enemy. It’s not made for kid–indeed the Private Snafu cartoons were never meant to be broadcast to the public at all, and were exclusively for the use of the armed forces. But that doesn’t actually make that all that different from what you’d normally see in a Warner Bros short. So you get some mild wearing (one soldier yells at the start, “How the hell do you expect a guy to study with all that racket going on?!”), and of course, there’s the fact that “Snafu” itself is an informal acronym which stands for, in its more sanitized form–“Situation normal–all fouled up.” But aside from that a lot of what we’re seeing could have been the antics of Daffy Duck.

Oh, interesting tidbit–the Private Snafu cartoons were actually considered military secrets, back in the day, and though there had been some leaks to their existence before hand they were only formally de-classified after the war was over.

From a science fiction perspective there obviously isn’t a lot to say here. It’s a magic fairy that gives Snafu his powers, which seem to involve the ability to fly, super strength and speed, and some level of invulnerability (though not enough to keep him out of the hospital at the end–actually he might just be as invulnerable as pretty much any cartoon character of his type. Maybe that’s not part of his Superman power set!) We’re not meant to take it seriously at all, so I won’t spend a lot of time trying to.

Ah well, that was a nice break from ape-men and monster movies. What will 1945 bring?