Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . for about a year during World War Two, so THE ALEUTIANS--ISLES OF ENCHANTMENT (OH BROTHER!)--the actual on-screen title of this animated short--is as much Family History for me as it is a Travelogue. The sneaky Japanese had killed many Americans while invading the most Western islands of this thousand-mile-long chain separating Sarah Palin's porch on the Alaskan mainland from Russia (she must have REALLY great eyes!). Though most of the Nipponese invaders had been killed or withdrawn in the face of our American Counter-Attack before Grandpops was stationed on Attu, abandoned stragglers still carried out suicidal sniper attacks from time to time during his Tour up there. ISLES OF ENCHANTMENT only spends a few seconds at the beginning alluding to the Battle for Attu. The rest of this piece deals with the Aleutians' harsh and capricious climate, including the Williwaw storms Gore Vidal used as the title and subject of his first novel. However, this brief cartoon deals with the challenges presented by one of the many WWII battle fronts in a manner that's more frank and refreshing than most of Pvt. Snafu's other outings.
utgard14
This is considered part of the Private Snafu series even though he only appears briefly and with no lines. It's an animated short directed by the great Chuck Jones and features Mel Blanc doing the voices of the few characters who speak, including a seal that looks and sounds like Jimmy Durante. The purpose of the short is to inform soldiers about the harsh weather and environment of the Aleutian Islands, which are a chain of islands in the North Pacific between the United States and Russia. During the war, thousands of U.S. soldiers were stationed there. It's not as funny as some of the other Snafu shorts but it has its moments. The black & white animation is very nice and the historical aspects are interesting.
Robert Reynolds
This is a short in the Private Snafu series of training film commissioned by the US Army during World War II under a contract with Warner Brothers studio. There will be mild spoilers ahead:Though most of the training films in the Snafu series are intended to teach soldiers the wisdom of following proper procedures by showing what happens to Private Snafu (the worst soldier in the army) when he doesn't follow procedures, this short is different. One, it's not a training film in the typical sense. Rather, it's a humorous look at the conditions found on the Aleutian Islands, a chain of islands near Alaska which are strategically important, which the short makes clear early on. Two, Private Snafu barely appears in the short, with two brief shots of him lasting a few seconds each.The weather there, as should be obvious given their proximity to Alaska, is cold and often unpleasantly inclement. This is told tongue in cheek and the short is funny. There's a caricature of Jimmy Durante which is particularly good.That's pretty much the extent of this short. It's enjoyable but slight, more a curio than anything else. This short is available on various DVDs and online. It's worth watching at least once.
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.While IMDb lists this as one of these Snafu films, this really a misnomer. First, it's more of a humorous film about the awful duty in the Aleutians. Second, Snafu only appears for a few seconds in the film. While it it funny and worth seeing, it's not all that great and it's quite short---less than three minutes long.
AD
