Three Brothers (1944)

Directed by Friz Freleng, Three Brothers borrows its structure from A Christmas Carol to argue that every army assignment could be worse, and features a brief, non-speaking Bugs Bunny cameo during Fubar’s dog-training ordeal.

Background

Three Brothers is a 1944 Warner Bros. animated short directed by Friz Freleng as part of the Private Snafu series made for the U.S. Army. The series used the character Snafu to teach soldiers about security, conduct and everyday military habits, mixing humor with instruction. In this short, Snafu is bored sorting boots until a Technical Fairy shows him how much worse his brothers have it. The structure borrows from A Christmas Carol, and Bugs Bunny makes a brief, non-speaking appearance during the dog-training sequence. The short runs about five minutes.

What to watch for

Look for the Technical Fairy’s tour, which shows Snafu’s brothers Tarfu and Fubar in worse assignments: one tending carrier pigeons, the other serving as a live decoy for attack-dog training. The dog-training ordeal is the short’s centerpiece, and Bugs Bunny’s brief cameo during it is the most recognizable moment. The message is that Snafu’s dull job is preferable to the alternatives, and the ending returns him to his barracks with that lesson in place. The film’s brisk pacing and quick gags make the instructional point without much delay. Notice how the Christmas-story framing gives an ordinary army training piece an unusual shape.