Private Snafu in The Aleutians—Isles of Enchantment (Oh Brother!) is a 1945 Private Snafu short directed by Chuck Jones.
Plot[]
After a brief overview of the Aleutian Islands chain, a diminutive caricature of a Japanese serviceman hops from island to island until he reaches a doorway, as the narrator explains that during the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Japanese saw the Aleutians as a potential back door for invading the United States. Once he reaches the door, the "Jap" encounters a large American soldier who quickly puts him to retreat as the narrator describes the new status of the Aleutians as a front door to Tokyo.
The narrator attributes the harsh and widely varying environment, rain, snow, thunder, and whirlwind gales, to Mother Nature, "The old bag blew her top!" The narrator also describes the conditions as "almost unbelievable," to which an observing elephant seal replies with Jimmy Durante style, "Nevertheless, that's the conditions that prevail."
Next, two servicemen emerge from thick mud, but a third man they are riding on never does. A "williwaw" strikes suddenly, stripping buildings and even hills off the landscape. Difficulty of airstrip maintenance due to excess moisture is the next topic; airmen, including Private Snafu, donning a diving suit in his lone appearance in the short, dive into a pond to retrieve a B-17. The aircraft rises from water and takes flight, opening its bomb bay to discharge a fish. This animal drops into the gaping maw of the seal, who repeats his earlier dialogue.
Notes[]
- The film describes the hardships of a posting in the Aleutians, describing the severe climactic conditions in an ironic voiceover commentary. During the Aleutian Islands Campaign in World War II, thousands of U.S. servicemen were stationed in the islands.
References[]
- ↑ Private Snafu Golden Classics
External Links[]
- "In the Aleutians" on the Internet Movie Database
- "In The Aleutians" on YouTube