Customer Reviews

The Complete Uncensored Private Snafu

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I'm going to keep this review very brief. The cartoons on this DVD are pretty good. However, these cartoons are covered up by a "Bosko Video" logo. In my opinion, this logo ruins the DVD.

From a historical viewpoint, these cartoons are important. During World War II, the U.S. military tried to use racial stereotyping to encourage U.S. soldiers to think that it was OK to kill the enemy.

The cartoons also give advice to soldiers such as don't accidentally dislcose military secrets to a woman that you might be involved with.

Mel Blanc does the voice of Private Snafu, but he's really just recylcling his Bugs Bunny voice.

The fact that this DVD contains ALL of the Private Snafu cartoons on one disc is an example of why DVD is better than VHS. The VHS version of this release requires two tapes.

I also like the fact that the cartoons are shown in their original black and white versions. Putting out colorized verions would have been a big mistake.

Overall, this is a pretty good DVD... except for one MAJOR problem. The problem is that all of the cartoons are covered up by a "Bosko Viedo" logo. I don't understand why the logo appears while the cartoons are playing. Were it not for this logo, this DVD would be a valuable addition to one's DVD collection, and I would probably give it three or four stars. But with the logo, I consider this DVD to be worthless, and so I am giving it only one star. I wish that I could get my money back. But since I already opened it, I am not allowed to return it. What a shame.

This video is almost a complete waste of time. The cartoon selections are good, but that's about all that's good. The problems are numerous. Firstly, the opening and end titles are cut from every cartoon, a completely pointless thing to do. It would be one thing if they were trying to save space, but they could have fit several times as many cartoons on the DVD, titles and all. Secondly, they've "remixed" the soundtrack into AC3 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. This is just about the silliest thing I can imagine. Don't be fooled. The original cartoons, being from the 30s and 40s, exist ONLY in mono. There is no way of making a mono soundtrack into stereo. They have simply added NEW sound effects and mixed them into stereo "around" the original mono soundtrack. The sounds are intermittent and distracting and do not go well with the mono soundtrack at all. They would have been far better off with a simple uncompressed mono soundtrack with no embellishments. Thirdly, the menu system is extremely awkward and does not allow you to skip through the cartoons with the track buttons. The player simply returns to the main menu after each cartoon. Lastly, the quality leaves much to be desired on most of the films. On "Scrap Happy Daffy," the quality is so bad, it's barely watchable. I understand that the film might of simply been in bad shape, but a little digital restoration would have been far more welcome than the silly "surround" sound effects.

Why couldn't they simply focus their efforts into a digital video and audio restoration on these old films and present them in their original unedited and uncensored state? Instead they've wasted their time with silly sound effects and cut up the cartoons as well.

Basically, this video's a bomb! Don't waste your time, just wait for MGM to release their Golden Age of Looney Tunes series on DVD. Their LD versions were far better than anything offered here.

I suggest that you avoid buying the DVD "Complete Uncensored Private Snafu."

During World War II, Warner Bros made a series of cartoons featuring a character called Private Snafu. The cartoons were created for the specific purpose of being viewed by members of the U.S. military.

Recently, all of these cartoons were released on this DVD. The cartoons are fine. The problem, however, is that when the cartoons are playing, there is an on-screen "Bosko Video" logo that appears on top of the cartoons. It's really no different than the kinds of logos that appear on broadcast TV. Except that this isn't broadcast TV. It's a DVD.

I find it very ironic that a DVD which includes the words "Complete" and "Uncensored" in its title is, in fact, because of this logo, UNcomplete, and it IS censored.

Were it not for this on-screen logo covering up the cartoons, I would give this DVD 4 stars. But, because the logo ruins the cartoons, I am giving the DVD only 1 star.

If anybody from the video company that produced this DVD is reading this and wants to send me an email explaining why the logo appears on the cartoons, please do so. My email address is real.

What a disappointment. Historic footage but I wish I'd known first that each cartoon would be disfigured by that wretched logo. Forget it. Don't encourage this sort of vandalism.

This is the most complete collection of the SNAFU toons I've yet seen, and all on one disk no less--it even includes the rare "A Few Quick Facts" shorts featuring SNAFU. Other companies only issue the toons that are in the best condition (in which case we may never have seen "Three Brothers" again) or censor them for language/partial nudity/racial stereotyping. Yes, there is objectionable content here, but these toons are a portrait of their era and audience. Several of them are quite simply lost gems from the golden age of Looney Tunes--toons such as "Booby Traps," "Outpost" and "Hot Spot." The carping in previous reviews about the Bosko logo seems rather beside the point--yes, I would have preferred it not be there, particularly the "solid" version of the logo, but it's not large, doesn't stay on the screen long, and appears to have been carefully timed so that its appearance doesn't conflict with significant scenery or action (which means in some toons it only appears towards the middle or end). The editing on this volume is distinctly superior to other releases--unlike some companies, Bosko didn't clip off the end of the cartoons, and even left the original Army-Navy Screen Magazine "tag" on some. If you're genuinely interested in these fascinating (and funny!) relics, this is definitely the volume for you.

Yes, the Bosko logo is distracting and unnecessary. Worse is the terrible matte job, especially in part 1, the upper and right portion of the image is cut off, yet there is room on screen for the grey border in the lower and left sides. THAT is annoying! However, the content more than makes up for those problems IMHO.

These are famous cartoons from WWII. But the transfer to DVD was totally botched. There's a grey frame around the image, cutting off part of the original picture. A "Bosto Video" logo appears over the image occasionally. This despite the fact that Bosto does not own the copyright in the original material. (Ref Library of Congress control number 97515282; the copyright applies to text and editing only.) Many of these cartoons are available from other sources at better quality. Still, Bosto did get them all on one DVD.

Yes, there are some transfer problems (mostly cropped images) but the historical value of these cartoons, as well as their comedic value, is immense, and I for one am more than willing to overlook the technical glitches. There's also a lot of surprisingly raunchy humor (since these cartoons were made for adult soldiers, not little kiddies...) and fans of risque or censored art will find a lot to enjoy here. It's a great glimpse into the concerns of the time -- presented by some of the greatest animators of the WWII era.

BTW - I think the featured review, written by Michael Phillips, may not be written about this DVD... It goes on at great length about sound problems and navigational glitches that I didn't experience while viewing this collection. He also refers to a cartoon that is not included in this collection... So, it may be a bad review that was written for another product altogether. Anyway, I'd take the negative comments about this disc with a grain of salt... There are problems with the disc, but they shouldn't ruin your fun while watching these great, long-lost cartoons.

Having finally bought a DVD player, this was one of the first DVDs I planned on buying. I think I made a good choice. I find it hard to believe these were originally intended for the military; would a soldier actually take serious advice from a cartoon? Typical cartoon-type stuff, but obviously of a military theme. (Members of the politically-correct crowd will definitely have something to say about several of these cartoons.) The main complaint seems to be with the "Bosko Video" logo that pops up in each cartoon. I found it to be a very minor irritant, especially when you consider how these films have not been widely available. The logo briefly comes on-screen in the lower right corner, but only for 2-3 seconds, and only one time in each film. Is the logo annoying? Maybe, but a very small price to pay. Overall I didn't think it was a big problem at all.