Spies (1943)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

"Spies" runs for 3.5 minutes, is in black-and-white, directed by Chuck Jones and voice acting comes from Mel Blanc. This one shows us how Snafu cannot keep a secret and enemies have their eyes and ears everywhere, so they know all about Snafu's plans. This was a pretty entertaining watch, packed with nice political references and we seven see Hitler as Satan in the end. I can totally see why this Snafu cartoon is more popular than most of the others. It is better in terms of humor, but also more relevant in terms of political context. And it actually tells an important message to soldiers. Be quiet about what you know if you talk to people that you cannot 100% trust. This somehow applies today as well. A very entertaining film and I very much recommend it. My favorite Snafu.

The Private Snafu cartoons generally are a lot of fun, and Spies is no exception. In fact, I do consider Spies one of the best Snafu cartoons despite that it does feel a little too short, being only about 3 minutes long, and there will be people who'll take offence at the caricatures of the Germans and Japanese(considering though that Spies was made during the war where the Germans and the Japanese were the enemy it was somewhat inevitable that they would be targeted). The animation is very beautifully done, with the drawing far from scrappy, the backgrounds show lots of detail and for black and white the colours are fluid and have atmosphere and warmth. The music is characterful and dynamically orchestrated in a way that is unmistakable of Carl Stalling, it accompanies the action brilliantly, matches the expressions and gestures equally as well and the use of pre-existing tunes are fun to spot. As well as one of the best of the Private Snafu cartoons Spies is also one of the funniest and cleverest. The horse's ass joke and the wonderfully devilish ending fare the best of the gags(which like all the cartoons revolves around how not to do things and their consequences but never does it feel predictable) but the joy is the cracking script that style and structure-wise has Dr.Seuss' style written all over it. A lot of the Private Snafu cartoons are risqué and quite ahead of their time and Spies is among the most daring. Snafu is an endearing and hilarious character, and the rest of the characters are just as colourful, yes including in a way the caricatures. Mel Blanc's- as usual in multiple roles- voice work typically is faultless. Overall, while it is easy for people to be offended by it Spies is a clever and extremely cartoon that is among the best of the series. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Chuck Jones's 'Spies' is one of the best Private Snafu cartoons made for the military. Used to instruct soldiers against certain behaviour by using Snafu to epitomise it, the Snafu cartoons were known for their bawdier nature inserted to keep the soldiers' attention. So 'Spies' features some prominent breast-based recording equipment, then-risqué use of the word "Hell" and a great horse's ass joke. Directed with great flair by Jones, 'Spies' main trump card is a cracking, witty script entirely in rhyme written by none other than the great Dr. Suess. Suess and Jones were a match made in heaven, as the classic 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' would later attest, and this early collaboration between the two is a worthy forerunner. Though it only lasts about three minutes in total, 'Spies' packs in plenty of laughs and sneaks its message in amongst them so that the audience doesn't feel it has been crammed down their throats at the end.

This film must be understood in the context for which it was made. While this is a film made by talent from Warner Brothers (with voice work by Mel Blanc and production by the folks at Looney Toons), it was NOT intended for general release--but was meant to be shown to soldiers to illustrate the importance of keeping troop activities secret. You can tell this is the case for several reasons--the cartoon is black and white (when Looney Toons had just recently switched to color), the guy at the newspaper stand is reading a magazine entitled "SEX" and the female Nazi spy has a radio hidden in her boobs. This was certainly NOT intended to be seen by the kids! So, with it's more adult humor designed to appeal to those in combat, the movie did a wonderful job of conveying its central message in a cute way--using great animation and a crazy rhyming style that is very, very catchy. Even today, this film is worth seeing--not just by history teachers but by anyone wanting a good laugh or wanting to see what life was like during the war.