The Goldbrick (1943) User Reviews

"...with a heart of pure gold and a backside of lead."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 9 September 2015]

Very funny entry in the Private Snafu cartoon series made for the U.S. army during WW2. This one is about laziness and shirking your duties, which could certainly be a dangerous thing for a soldier to do during wartime. Lazy Snafu is encouraged by "Goldie the Goldbrick" to skip drill by pretending to be sick. Goldie is an amusing "fairy" that has to be seen to be believed. He sings a great song that would no doubt turn the most responsible among us into slackers. The short's directed by Frank Tashlin with voicework from the great Mel Blanc. The black & white animation is nice. Look at Snafu's nurse -- insert cartoon whistles here! The short ends with a twist that will be offensive to some today but it's important to keep these things in the proper historical context.

Private Snafu finds ways to relax more in the army.

[emasterslake · 7/10 · 10 October 2005]

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.

Not one of the better Snafu cartoons

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 14 May 2009]

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 cartoon, instead of Technical Fairy First Class, you see a new but fatter character. And, instead of teaching him a good lesson, this fairy encourages Snafu to take the easy way out again and again. By the end of the film, Snafu is in deep trouble and you discover the truth about this new fairy.

Overall, a rather sub-par Snafu cartoon, though for fans of the series, it's still worth seeing. The biggest problem with it is that it's just less funny than the typical film and seemed a bit preachy.

Dereliction of duty at its finest!

[slymusic · 16 October 2009]

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!

THE GOLDBRICK must have been extremely puzzling . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 1 August 2016]

. . . 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.

At least the music is good

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 10 August 2015]

This is a 4-minute cartoon featuring Private Snafu, who is not really among my favorite Warner Bros characters. He is voiced by the most prolific voice actor in film history, Mel Blanc, just like all the other characters in here and the director is Frank Tashlin, who also directed many more Warner Bros. films. As all other Snafu films, this one is black-and-white too. I have to say the music was fine and the only other reason to watch this are the World War II references that are so frequent in Snafu short films. This one here is especially explicit with anti-Japanese propaganda. In terms of the story, however, it is a weak watch just like pretty much all the other Private Snafu films. Not recommended.

Good early Private Snafu short with a somber ending.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 27 December 2014]

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.

An excellent short that packs in some laugh, a very catchy song and a genuinely troubling climax

[phantom_tollbooth · 9/10 · 9 January 2009]

Frank Tashlin's 'The Goldbrick' is a great Private Snafu cartoon designed to discourage "goldbricking" (slacking off) in soldiers. One of a handful of shorts in which Snafu actually dies at the end, 'The Goldbrick' has at its core an infectiously lazy song which is so laid-back that it's virtually a poem but is impossible to get out of your head afterwards. Convinced by Goldie the Goldbrick fairy that he should fake an illness to get out of duty, Snafu slowly begins to learn all the tricks of goldbricking until he is singing along with the film's theme tune. These scenes are cleverly set-up with a couple of nice laughs but 'The Goldbrick' really makes its mark with the grim turn it takes at the end. The final scenes are genuinely troubling (and not just for the racist caricature) and the message is delivered forcefully without having to make any sacrifices in terms of entertainment. There are many Private Snafu shorts which more than justify the redistribution of the series and 'The Goldbrick' is amongst the very best.

One of the better Snafu cartoons

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 9 September 2013]

The only thing that didn't come off so well was the caricature of the Japanese Goldbrick, that it's stereotypical is one thing and while I'm not sure whether it can count as racist it is still not done subtly or tastefully and may offend people anyhow. The Goldbrick is still very good, and one of Snafu's better outings. Snafu is still funny and endearing, even when he is the world's worst soldier you can still identify with him. Mel Blanc's voices are still terrific and done with such energy that few voice actors have matched. The animation is beautifully shaded and fluid, while the music is as characterful as you'd expect. And what an irresistibly catchy song. The writing is funny and witty, agreed very Dr. Seuss-like in its rhymes and droll poetry, while the gags are clever and the least they get in effectiveness is amusing. There are also a few elements that may seem tame now but were actually very daring for the time, they are still very interesting and fun to see. There have been some Snafu outings like The Home Front that was a little too heavy on that but here in The Goldbrick it's pitched just right. The second half is more grim in tone but directs its message(a good one too) and to me in a way that wasn't that preachy. All in all, very good and one of Snafu's better outings. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Playing Sick

[Michael_Elliott · 7 September 2015]

The Goldbrick (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

It's raining and cold outside when the alarm is given for Private Snafu to wake up and go train. He really doesn't feel like working today so he decides to play sick to get out of having to do anything. We then learn why he shouldn't have done this. This is another good entry in the War Department's training series, which was made to show soldiers why certain things shouldn't be done. This one here certainly isn't bad but then again it really doesn't stand out either. The animation is certainly the highlight as it's done extremely well. Mel Blanc also does a very good job with the vocal work. Unlike some of the other films in the series, this one here doesn't feature any of the "adult" moments showing why this was aimed at soldiers and not the general paying public.