The Chow Hound

The Private Snafu films were clearly made to be seen by soldiers and not by the general public. Their point was to illustrate important messages to the troops in a humorous manner. In this case, the film is about the importance of not wasting food--though the film didn't turn out to that funny and was actually pretty creepy.

The film begins with a couple of cows falling in love. However, the war arrives and the male cow decides to sacrifice himself for the war effort. So, the cute cow is made into canned meat for the soldiers! However, Snafu is his usual idiotic self and he wastes the food--not appreciating that food is precious.

As I said, this seemed creepy. The idea of the cow's ghost standing there and proudly waiting to see his flesh get eaten must have seemed clever in 1944, but now it seems more like a recruiting film for PETA! Not among the best in the series, that's for sure.

A bull was about to live a settle life with a cow, till war occurred and Snafu was drafted to fight in the war. The bull realizes that the Snafu needs food in order to prevent hunger while fighting in the war.

So the Bull turns himself in to the slaughterhouse and his meat was canned and shipped to Snafu's Army Corp. But will Snafu eat the meat of the Bull he gave his own life away for a soldier? I won't give away on what the ending is like, but just know that this short has a simple lesson in not to waist food. Which gives Soldiers the idea to eat small and not too much.

This one has some usual gags. As well as some humor expected in all Snafu cartoons. Another WW2 short to check out.

Another fun entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during World War II. This one's directed by Frank Tashlin and focuses on wasting food. It's a pretty interesting cartoon. First, it's narrated by a bull. He tells the story of how, on his honeymoon with his new bride, the news comes that the US has entered the war. So the brave bull decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and be turned into food for the soldiers. Already we're dealing with an amazing concept for a cartoon, but it gets better. So the bull becomes part of some kind of canned food and is sent to the battlefront, where Private Snafu promptly makes an ass of himself by eating only some of the food and letting the rest go to waste. So the bull's ghost goes ballistic, kicks the crap out of Snafu, and lets us know what he thinks of his wasted sacrifice. I like this series and shorts like this are a good example of why. It's just so bizarre and creative in a way you didn't see that much in mainstream cartoons of the time. Plus it has a good message and nice animation. It's not my favorite of the series but I like it a lot.

Many of the Private Snafu cartoons are very enjoyable, being very well-made, entertaining and educational with good morals and interesting historical and instructional material. Even when inept, Snafu is still very much endearing and fun for a vast majority of his cartoons.

'The Chow Hound' may not be one of the best Private Snafu cartoons, like 'Spies', 'The Goldbrick' and 'Booby Traps'. It is still however very well done and has almost all the ingredients that make the Private Snafu cartoons so worth watching in general. Snafu has admittedly been more likable in other cartoons, he is as inept as ever but he is not as endearing or as fun and comes over as reckless and selfish that one is hardly surprised that drastic measures are taken to teach him a lesson.

It's a very short cartoon and feels it, and while much of the messaging makes its point very powerfully and finds just about the right tone the part with the ghost of the bull waiting to see his flesh eaten was one morbid step too far and not for the easily creeped out.

On the other hand, 'The Chow Hound' is very well-animated though with fluid character designs, detailed and not sparse backgrounds and lively colours/shadings. Carl Stalling always did write outstanding music for the many cartoons he scored for and that is true for 'In the Aleutians', the orchestration is very lush and the pacing is characteristically lively.

As ever the messaging and instructional parts make their point in a way that doesn't preach or disturb, and the narration entertains, resonates and teaches and doesn't fall into the trap of over-explaining or being over-used. Amidst the daring concept and a concept that is really quite brilliantly done there are a few humorous moments too. Mel Blanc as ever voices with zany zest and Frank Graham is a distinguished narrator.

In summary, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox