Pay Day

During WWII, the US government financed a series of Private Snafu cartoons. Using a wonderful sense of humor, they were able to convey important messages to the troops--and the films were not shown to the general public. You can tell this in a few of the films, as the humor is a bit more adult than you could have gotten away with in theaters. Today, you can find these shorts on DVD as well as for free downloads at archive.org.

This installment of Private Snafu is about the importance of saving your pay. Snafu has lots of great plans--a home, a baby, a wife, a new car--and you see him imagining them all. However, as usual, Snafu is also an idiot. And, as he blows his money, you see items disappear from his dream. All the while, his fairy godfather tries to help, but Snafu is determined to act without thinking. The film gets the point across well, though it's not as silly or funny as usual. Decent and watchable but far from the crazy stuff that make some of the Snafu cartoons wonderful.

Another entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during World War II. This one's directed by Friz Freleng and the message of the short is that soldiers should manage their pay better and not spend it all. This is another of the shorts that feature Technical Fairy 1st Class, who tries to help Snafu save his money but fails, of course. We see Snafu in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Arctic. In each locale Snafu finds a way to waste his pay. It's a fun cartoon with some nice animation and good use of music. My favorite portion was probably the Arctic. It's far from the best of the series but enjoyable.

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.

'Pay Day' is a good Snafu cartoon, but isn't one of the best. There is more of a preference for the Chuck Jones-directed Snafu cartoons, and the best Private Snafu cartoons like 'Spies', 'The Goldbrick', 'Booby Traps' and 'Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike' were wilder, funnier and more creative.

By all means, 'Pay Day' is certainly amusing and teaches a lot of important things about money while still entertaining and never coming over as patronising. Just that compared to other Private Snafu cartoons it's pretty tame and unoriginal, and anybody who has seen a Snafu cartoon before will not be surprised at how the story unfolds, not much variation from the norm here.

On the other hand, 'Pay Day' 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.

Snafu is endearing and amusing, even when so hopelessly inept and Technical Fairy First Class is a great teacher and contrast. The voice work is great, as one would expect from the immortal Mel Blanc.

All in all, good but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox