Fighting Tools
About Fighting Tools
Headlines say the American soldier is the best armed in the world, and that the tools are unbeatable only if they are cared for. Private Snafu reads the paper in his tent and sings that his equipment will make him the war's greatest hero. He lets the weapons and the gear go to pieces, and the neglect costs him.
Cast & crew
More about Fighting Tools
Bob Clampett directed this Private Snafu short, the first in the series he directed. It was released on issue 13 of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine. The First Motion Picture Unit produced the series. Warner Bros. animated it. Mel Blanc voices Snafu. Most of the dialogue is sung to the 1928 tune "The Gay Caballero." A copy is on Wikimedia Commons. Like the other Snafu shorts, it is a government film in the public domain.
Themes
Background
Issued in 1943 on the Army-Navy Screen Magazine as a lesson in maintaining weapons.
Making
Clampett sets the lecture in rhyme, with Snafu singing over the headlines.
Music
Mel Blanc sings most of the lines to "The Gay Caballero."
Preservation
A government film in the public domain. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- One headline reads that battle reports prove the U.S. soldier the best armed in the world.
- The caution under it is that the tools are unbeatable only if cared for.
- Caricatures include Tony Galento and Katharine Hepburn.
- A newspaper gag in the short says Hitler commits suicide, two years before April 1945.
Scenes
- Snafu reads the care-for-your-tools headline and sings that he will be the hero.
- The neglected gear fails him.
