Customer Reviews

Private Snafu Golden Classics

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Here it is! The ultimate, definitive, end-all Private Snafu collection! These cartoons were made to teach our troops during WWII with hilarious results. The cartoons would help troops learn about not to spread rumours, zipper your lip when you learn a secret, camoflague, and much more. The cartoons were written by Theodore Geisel (known to many as Dr. Seuss) and P.D. Eastman (who, like Seuss, also made a career writing childrens books) and directed by the great WB directors of the 40's; Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin. Now, the fine folks at Thunderbean proudly present the ultimate collection of Private Snafu shorts. You get all 26 shorts plus all 4 A Few Quick Facts shorts featuring Snafu all brilliantly restored and remastered from the original 35mm negatives (the transfers are like on the same scale as the Looney Tunes Golden Collections) and audio commentaries with Jerry Beck, Eric Goldberg, John Kricfalusi, and more. Since reading this news on the Golden Age Cartoons forums in July, I couldn't have been more excited! Throw your old DVD release from Image Entertainment in the trash, cause this is the only release of Private Snafu you'll ever need!

Private Snafu Golden Classics

1. The SNAFUs are Warner Brothers cartoons from the peak of the studio's classic, golden age period. If you're a fan of Warner cartoons from the 1940s, you'll be a fan of these.
2. You've never seen them look as good as they do in this set by a long shot, and will probably never see them looking better.
3. If you enjoy delving more deeply, the supplementary materials, especially the commentaries by animators and animation historians are a treasure trove, and highly entertaining in their own right.
4. In case this review gets misapplied to another, inferior SNAFU collection at some point, I'll reiterate that I'm talking about "Private SNAFU Golden Classics" from Thunderbean Animation.
5. What do you mean you haven't bought it yet? Get with it!

First of all, I would like to commemerate Eric Goldberg (worked on The Genie in Aladdin and The Crocodile in The Princess and the Frog) for coming up with the best DVD cover I have ever seen.
Steve Stanch gave his heart and soul into this DVD project. He wanted these cartoons looking their very best, he knew the right people to help him along the way, and he presented it mighty finely.
The shorts have had the first class treatment in restoration, and the ones I could really tell are Goldbrick and Fighting Tools. I had seen Goldbrick before in The Looney Tunes Golden Collection series, but it was majorly slowed down. And John K. (Ren & Stimpy) really shows his appreation in his commentary for Fighting Tools.
The Private Snafu cartoon series packs alot of variety from different art styles in directors and studios, the many voice talents of Mel Blanc, favorable moments (i.e., a very amusing run cycle in Fighting Tools) and not only work from your favorite WB directors (Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin) but also writing by rhyming master Dr. Suess. with influencing, too! So, it's like a big Easter basket chocked filled with goodies!
But that's not all! If you know very little about Snafu and his history, Mr. Stanch made sure you could tell others about him with commentaries from John Krifalusi, Jerry Beck (historian & cofounder of cartoonbrew.com), Eric Goldberg, Mark Mayerson, and Mike Kazaleah. They range on informative, fun, and excited on their commentaries. There's ton of model sheets, magazine covers, stills, and even title cards for The Army/Navy Screen Magazine inwhich Snafu showed his debut!
These shorts were most important cartoons of their time (even including ours!) They were highly enjoyable to the soilders and fighting men and women of US Army. Not only enjoyed, but also listened to.

Thumbs Up, Doc! Thumbs Up!

As I type this, there are already seven 5-star ratings for Thunderbeans's "Privte Snafu Golden Classics" collection on Amazon.com.

Now there are eight.

I don't have anything to add to what my seven predecessors have said, other than to express my enthusiasm for the few deicated animation fans who have made it their business to produce and distribute top-flight collections such as these.

Please support them whenever and however you can.

Oh, and, Steve?

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

You may have seen these cartoons created for the US Army on other public domain collections in the past... but you have NEVER seen them like this! Beautifully restored from the ORIGINAL 35mm elements! If you love classic Warner animation, this set is loaded with rare cartoons directed by the likes of Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin with Mel Blanc doing the voice of our "hero", the bumbling Pvt. Snafu, and music scores by Carl Stalling. A fascinating slice of WWII history *and* the cartoons are still very funny and entertaining! This first class presentation is also loaded with commentary tracks, stills galleries, rare "A Few Quick Facts" cartoons from studios like UPA and MGM, an all-new featurette narrated by Jerry Beck, and MORE. This DVD is worth EVERY PENNY.

If anyone other than Thunderbean had produced this I would have passed on it. I was happy enough with the old Bosko editon, pleased with SNAFU's appearances in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection boxsets and LT laserdiscs, and tolerated a complete set bootleg in low-res.

Thunderbean's production is a creature of a higher order. The prints are crisp and every tone is clear and rich, the resolution is very high. The sound is outstanding, and there is a consistency of high quality 'toon to 'toon - no need to adjust the picture and volume every six minutes as with other releases. This is simply the most professionally restored and recorded edition (including Warner Bros' own).

I had no interest in buying these cartoons again, but damn - I'm glad I did. I am also pleased that Steve Stanchfield responded to my critique of the framing for "The Strangest Cartoons Ever Made, Vol. 1" and set me straight. Sadly, I cannot respond in the comments, but for certain, these prints include all the picture available.

If you have these 'toons, believe me - you need them once more... and FOR ALL.

Thunderbean DVDs are always of the highest quality, but this one is really special. Steve Stanchfield and his team have really put together an amazing package for animation fans, with beautifully restored films from the original 35 mm elements held by the US National Archives. There is great historical material both in the well-written insert, and as supplements on the DVD.

It is very interesting to see the opening and closing title sequences from the Army/Navy Screen Magazine, the films in which the Snafu shorts were originally presented. (Found in the Special Features section.)

in addition to the well-known Schlesinger Studios shorts, we get a few from MGM and even UPA (conplete with UPA's more stylized graphics).

The stills gallery, incuding magazine covers with Ray Harryhausen models, is a real treat

It was also fun to see the the "Private SNAFU presents Seaman TARFU" short for the first time, with a really fun surprise ending that I won't spoil for anywone here.

There are also lots of commentaries from some true animation legends.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

The quality is amazing! They actually rival the quality of the Looney Tunes restorations on the Golden Collection, and are way better than the unrestored Snafus included in the extras. They look brand new. This is the definitive set of Private Snafu cartoons.

What else can I say? Well, there are very nice extras, audio commentary, and even the cover artwork is high quality. I love the subliminal American flag on the cover hiding in the red and white clouds and blue star-lit sky. Very cool.


Darryl

It would be difficult to add any new comments to the dozen or so (as of this writing) glowing reviews for this release. I'll keep it short and just say that anyone who bought the Looney Toons Golden Collections simply MUST add this to their collection. Even the title "Golden Classics" seems to be a nod to those earlier releases, and serves Warner Bros. notice that they still have a LOT of unfinished business in the eyes of classic animation fans.

With that in mind, I hope you'll forgive me for indulging in my own "wish list" for the wonderful folks at Thunderbean. There are so many as-yet-unreleased classic cartoons out there. Many have fallen into the public domain and have seen shoddy, unrestored releases from hacks like Alpha, Millcreek, etc. But if they can obtain the rights, Thunderbean Animation are clearly the ones to save these works of art:

--Fleischer Studios cartoons of the 1930's. Not just Betty Boop (although it's unforgiveable that no one has done a proper restoration of those), but funny and wild pre-Code cartoons like "Swing You Sinners."

--Early MGM color cartoons. Some very colorful and charming stuff out there that easily rivals what Disney was doing at the time.

--The infamous "Censored 11" cartoons. There's a rumor that WB is working on those, but I'm afraid it will be too controversial for a mainstream release (Side Note: If a 70 year old cartoon really upsets you, get some therapy).

--The Famous Studios cartoons of the 40's and 50's. Not just Popeye, although it appears WB is never going to get around to those, either.

OK, I know I've gotten off-topic with my Wish List. But classic animation fans know what I'm talking about. In the meantime, please continue to support Thunderbean and get ALL their great cartoon collections. Thanks for reading! :-)

Believe me, this is is really one of the best DVD ever released.
Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean put his heart in this release and you can really see it!
The cartoons are beautifully restored and remastered from 35mm and 16mm elements....in short,they never looked so good!
Even if you already got the Bosko DVD that featured the Snafu cartoons you really need to buy this.
I was amazed to finally be able to see these wartime classics in such beautiful quality.
Do yourselves a favor and buy this DVD!