The Complete Uncensored Private Snafu
The 28 cartoons in this collection were made by the Warner Bros. artists for  theArmy-Navy Screen Magazineduring World War II, and were rarely--if  ever--seen by the general public. The title character's name is an acronym  for "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up" (substitute another "F-word" if you must), and most of his adventures are  mildly didactic: Snafu ignores an Army regulation and/or common sense, and  pays the price. In "Snafu vs. Malaria Mike" and "It's Murder She Says..."  (1945), he goes without insect repellent in the tropics and ignores insect  netting--and catches malaria. The stories were written by Ted "Dr. Seuss"  Geisel, and the meters and rhymes echo his children's books. In "Gripes"  (1943), Snafu begins, "If I ran this army...." The shots of Snafu's bare  posterior and the occasional "damn" or "hell" were considered risqué  during the '40s, but the depictions of buck-toothed Japanese soldiers are more  likely to raise eyebrows today. Although obviously made quickly and  cheaply--Snafu's appearance varies from film to film and Mel Blanc  essentially reused Bugs Bunny's voice for the character--many of these cartoons  are still funny. Unfortunately, Bosko Video disfigures these historically  significant films by periodically inserting its logo into the frame. What were they thinking?--Charles Solomon