Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . conveying the message that "Loose lips sink ships." However, frame-by-frame scrutiny of this World War Two Era "Private Snafu" Warner Bros. animated short reveals that CENSORED is ACTUALLY promoting a "Loose lips jinx Nips" message. Bare Nips appear on many of the Pin-ups plastering the walls of Snafu's South Seas Quonset Hut. They later are featured prominently when Snafu's loose-lipped gal back home, Sally Lou, greets her mailman totally topless. Bare Boobies are even used as a camouflage screen by the Japanese troops acting upon Sally's Brazen Braless Baring of American Invasion plans for "Bingo Bango Island." This atoll is drawn as an apparently welcoming but actually Nit- or Nip-infested portal for the entry of clueless U.S. Seamen. Snafu then crows about catching someone with "their pants down," but it's awfully hard to tell just whose panties are in a bunch. CENSORED is pretty much five minutes of non-stop sexual innuendo. Warner Bros.' subliminal marching orders urge U.S. servicemen to instigate a Baby Boom by servicing American Ladies ASAP. This strategy of eventually overwhelming the Japanese through a sheer U.S. numerical advantage was, of course, short-circuited by the atom bombs. However, by then the flood of babies already were in the pipeline (no more able to be returned to the Tube than excess toothpaste).
slymusic
"Censored" is a funny Private Snafu cartoon made at Warner Brothers during World War II. Snafu repeatedly tries to write a complete letter to his girl Sally Lou, but because soldiers need to be careful of what they write during wartime, all of Snafu's letters get severely censored.Highlights: When an electric eye catches Snafu's butt, all hell breaks loose. One shredded letter turns into paper dolls, and I love Snafu's angry facial expression. Although it's wrong, I laugh at the stereotypical Japanese communications (thanks to voice actor Mel Blanc) via telephone and radio regarding Snafu's whereabouts, after which Japanese submarines surround Bingo Bango Island within a matter of seconds.One surprise we can find in "Censored" is a TOPLESS Sally Lou! Clearly this cartoon was not meant for a general audience, but the GIs could accept a little bawdy display now and then.
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.In this particular short, Snafu keeps trying again and again to sneak a letter to his girlfriend past the military censors. However, again and again they catch him. So, when his Technical Fairy First Class arrives, Snafu asks him to deliver the letter. As usual, the fairy is able to show Snafu what COULD happen if this information got out--even if it seemed very innocent.All in all, not among the very best (such as BOOBY TRAPS and SPIES) but still a very good cartoon. Not only did it illustrate its point well but had a few good laughs thrown in to make the message quite palatable.
Robert Reynolds
This is one of 28 short (three to four minutes each, typically) cartoons showing how NOT to be a good soldier and the potential consequences of doing or saying the wrong things. Targeted solely at servicemen, the language was far more graphic and animation more adult in nature on a few occasions. Censored is about the need to censor correspondence home so that the enemy doesn't pick up vital information from the seemingly innocuous, casual remark (i.e., troop movements, location, unit number, et cetera). Private Snafu is the world's worst soldier and the name is an acronym-Situation Normal, All Fouled Up being the kinder, gentler meaning given in polite parlance. Excellent series, well worth seeing. Highly recommended.