It's Murder She Says... (1945) User Reviews

Decent but there are better Private Snafu cartoons around

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 20 April 2015]

For me, Spies and Booby Traps are the best of a mostly entertaining series, a series of cartoons that's funny, educational, mostly daring with a title character that's endearing despite its ineptness. It's Murder She Says is well worth the watch, and is on the whole a decent cartoon in general. But it had the potential to be great, instead It's Murder She Said is one of the weaker.

Is it educational? Yes it is, it's a good subject with a great message that is not delivered at all in a heavy-handed way. Is it funny? In spades, but it is never what I call hilarious, more amusing if anything and could have been more consistent. Is it daring? No, a good deal of the Private Snafu cartoons having risqué and ahead-of-their-time elements but It's Murder She Said is surprisingly tame considering the subject. The pacing could have been crisper too.

The animation is very good though, the black and white is sumptuous and crisp in quality, the drawing is fluid and the backgrounds are nicely detailed. Carl Stalling was a very consistent composer, whose music scores was always one of the best things of the cartoons featuring them, and that's true of It's Murder She Says. The rhythmic energy enhances what happens very well and it's beautifully orchestrated. The cartoon's cleverly scripted, though Dr Seuss has been funnier, and the two lead characters do a great job carrying the cartoon. Annie is an enormously entertaining and sometimes poignant character who brings a lot of verve here and while underused Snafu is very endearing. The voice acting is very good from some of the greatest and most consistent voice actors of the time, and the narration amuses and teaches.

All in all, not one of Snafu's finest hours but still decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Surprisingly tame, particularly given the presentation

[llltdesq · 6/10 · 17 January 2015]

This is a short in the Private Snafu series of training films done during World War II for the US Army. There will be mild spoilers ahead:

The purpose of this short was to teach soldiers about the ways to avoid contracting malaria, which is spread by mosquito bites. The short has an intriguing presentation device. A mosquito named Annie is lamenting her slide from prominence. She's presented as a bar girl, but the basic presentation is very tame for a Snafu. It's actually a rather dry and conventional short.

Annie discusses her heyday, when she caused a high infection rate, before the military and medical assault on malaria began. She essentially covers the basic protocols to avoid being bitten and infected, like keeping your skin covered, using mosquito repellent, mosquito netting at night around the sleeping area and so on.

There's also a section about the eradication of the breeding grounds for mosquitoes to reduce the hazards by killing off the mosquitoes before they become a nuisance. Snafu enters the picture when Annie gives him as an explanation of why she isn't completely finished. Soldiers like Snafu don't follow protocols and so long as such soldiers exist, so will Annie.

This short is available on various DVDs and online. One of the weaker Snafus, but still worth a look.

Unfortunately, a lot less Snafu than you probably want as well as less humor.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 25 February 2021]

During WWII, many American filmmakers gave up their normal jobs and began working for the US government in order to make army training films. Among these filmmakers were also animators, such as Chuck Jones, Hugh Harmon and Dr. Seuss. Of these training films, the ones that hold up best and are generally a lot of fun to see are the Private Snafu shorts. They are funny, occasionally VERY crude (as they were meant to be seen by soldiers not the general public) and quite informative--passing on needed advice to soldiers about a variety of topics.

"It's Murder She Says..." is kind of a Private Snafu film. I say 'kind of' because he's really barely in it and doesn't even speak. Instead the main character is a down and out mosquito infected with Malaria and she reminisces about the good old days before mosquito control. Her advice clearly is to warn soldiers to take preventative measures....or else.

The problem with this short is without Snafu and humor, all you're left with is an animated training film....which has much more limited appeal today. Instead, I recommend you watch "Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike"....a similar film but with a high dose of fun! Both are available on YouTube.

"This is the story of an outcast..."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 12 August 2016]

Another entry in the Private Snafu series made for use by the US Army during World War II. This one's directed by Chuck Jones and barely features Snafu. It focuses on how malaria is on the decline because of proper military safeguards. The joke is that malaria is represented by a busty haggard old female mosquito and the short treats malaria almost like a venereal disease. Very funny stuff. I don't know how effective it would've been at actually getting its point across but, then again, I doubt many of these instructional shorts were seen as anything more than diverting entertainment by the servicemen. Excellent black & white animation. Creative and clever writing. Nice voice work. Really a treat. Unlike the reviewers before me, I think this is one of the best in the series, even if Snafu is barely in it.

"I took my drinks straight . . . "

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 3 December 2016]

" . . . but the boys got theirs mixed with a Mickey Finn," mass murderer Anopheles Annie (aka, Malaria Moll) confesses during IT'S MURDER SHE SAYS . . . "The Boys" Annie refers to make up the U.S. Military. It took a long 11 months, but the millions of normal Americans filling out the lower ranks FINALLY got it through the thick skulls of the One Per Center Generals and Colonels squandering tax payer funds on their PRIVATE SNAFU propaganda series that an episode titled PRIVATE SNAFU VS. MALARIA MIKE had it all wrong--it's FEMALE Squeeters that bite and transmit "Mickey Finn cocktails" of such diseases as Malaria and Zika--NOT the mosquito men folks! Since ALL recent U.S. Wars--Vietnam, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Persian Gulf, and Iraq--have been started by the U.S. Rich People Party which just stole the White House after LOSING the 2016 Election by 2.5 million votes (!), it's all but certain that White House Resident-Elect Rump will be sending hundreds of thousands of troops to some Zika Zone or another on a Phony Pretext for an Oil War insidiously crafted to further enrich all of the Billionaire Cronies packing Rump's Cabinet. Annie is waiting!

Malaria is no laughing matter

[dtucker86 · 10/10 · 20 September 2023]

I was so glad I found these Private Snafu (for you uneducated that is a military acronymn for situation normal all fouled up and trust me that is true in today's military). This short deals with malaria and has the mosquito that spreads it take the form of a seductive femme fatale serial killer who spread death and destruction across the war zones (acutally during the Spanish American War there were more troops that were killed by malaria then by bullets). However, she mourns the loss of her livelihood because the military has wised up and started to take precautions against the dread disease everyone except our old pal Snafu who is too dumb and he keeps her in business.