The Gold Brick
The Gold Brick
| 01 September 1943 (USA)
The Gold Brick Trailers

A fairy encourages Snafu to duck out of his training regime for his own reasons.

Reviews
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Edgar Allan Pooh . . . to its alleged target audience of new recruits when it first came out in 1943. As anyone who has seen THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, or THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY well knows, there were no Featherbedders among the American heroes who won World War Two. Hell had no FURY worse than that for the grunt too lazy to mop his predecessor's face of his tank's interior. Most of the brave souls fighting for U.S. Freedom in WWII had had little if any exposure to television, so how could they be blamed for not imagining a day when a TV game show host would gain access to nuclear bomb codes capable of blowing up Planet Earth into a new Asteroid Belt? Even if they paid rapt attention to this boring and patronizing animated short, they'd be incapable of guessing that they were fighting and dying so that History's King of Goldbrickers could claim a few decades later that he was their beloved Gen. Patton reincarnated, despite the fact that he'd weaseled out of his own Vietnam Duty quicker than "this" through a goose! Just as Pvt. Snafu's corrupting Goldbrick idol turns out to be hanged Japanese War Criminal Tojo himself, President-Elect Trump's Alter Ego has been exposed this summer as that notorious Russian, Vladimir "Mad Dog" Putin. The G.I.s of the 1940s thought Germans were pretty dumb for electing Adolph Hitler as their President in the 1930s. Millions of people--including millions of Germans--died, due to that colossal goof. Many more soon will perish because of our even dumber American voters.
Robert Reynolds This is a short in a series of training films done by the Warner Brothers animation studio during World War II for the US Army. There will be spoilers ahead:Private Snafu is the worst soldier in thee army. He was developed as a method of helping train soldiers to avoid the mistakes a poor soldier might make by showing the consequences of poor habits and actions (or inactions, as seen here).Private Snafu doesn't want to train, work or make any real effort, character traits encouraged by Goldie the Goldbrick fairy. As Snafu undertakes certain tasks, he's encouraged to take the easy way out over and over, with negative results, until he reaches combat in the Pacific theater out of shape and absolutely incapable of anything worthwhile.The consequences are spelled out rather starkly and grimly in the end of the short, when Snafu is a casualty and Goldie the Goldbrick is revealed to be Japanese, in an unflattering caricature. Which, given that this is propaganda, is pretty much to be expected.These shorts are available on various DVDs and online. Recommended.
slymusic Basically what you can learn from Private Snafu is how not to be a soldier, and in "The Goldbrick", Snafu is persuaded in song by his technical fairy that he no longer needs to exert any physical energy on his duties. That means trouble! Two highlights: First, the snoring Snafu blows upward the skirt in his girl's picture frame, thus revealing her panties; a bugle then blows reveille in Snafu's ear, and his head bobs uncontrollably from side to side. And second, the fairy reveals himself at the end as a stereotypical Japanese soldier who happily finishes the fairy's goldbrick song.Lesson learned: Soldiers, don't lie down on the job. Our country needs you!
emasterslake Snafu is tired of not getting any rest.That's when Goldie the GoldBrick(who's fatter than Technical Fairy First Class) comes along.He gives out tips on how to skip his duties and rest more.Snafu takes every one of these tips.But when he goes out into battle that can be a problem when he's all pooped out. And Goldie the Goldbrick isn't as trustworthy as he seems.This is another fine Private Snafu Cartoon with plenty of Dr. Suess like rhythms.It's a good lesson in not being a Goldbrick yourself when you're in the war.