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A (male?!) mosquito army prepares for the attack. We see basic training, which includes an obstacle course (slapping hands, fly swatters), target practice on stuffed dummy human forms, and training for taking off and landing on "flattops" (sardine cans). The trainees get, literally, their wings. A scout arrives with photos and the attack is planned. The first wave sneaks in behind flowers, then opens a hole in the screened-in porch. A second wave arrives in an amphibious boat, then launches their attack; despite the human's preparations (DDT, flyswatter), he's launched high in the air. Finally, the returning troops land, but instead of reaching their sardine-can destination, they fall short in the water. The bug directing them turns around, and we see his crossed eyes.

In this clever wartime spoof, a mosquito attack on a human&#39;s butt is portrayed as an elaborate aerial military exercise. We are taken through preparations for the assault, from basic training, reconnaissance, and so forth. Mosquitos dodge obstacle courses of mechanical fly-swatters and so on. Eventually the assault is launched. Though the most obvious conclusion is that it&#39;s inspired by the D-Day landings (a phrase something like that is used), the cartoon was completed shortly after the war, and therefore manages to avoid being a propaganda exercise. The human isn&#39;t obviously portrayed as being foreign, nor are the mosquitoes of any particular nationality. It&#39;s more just a cartoon which people could easily relate to having come through the war years. It&#39;s obviously less funny to a modern audience, though still entertaining. What spoils it for me is the almost complete lack of &#39;closure&#39; in the ending. It was more like &#39;well the seven minutes is up. Think of a sight-gag to finish with. Anything will do.&#39; This seems to have been pretty common in WB&#39;s of this period though.

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Of Thee I Sting

This is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes short. There will be spoilers ahead: This short is a &quot;cheater&quot;, which means that a significant amount of the footage used in this short is footage from some other short which has been reused here to save time and/or money. There&#39;s footage originally done for a training film done by Warner as part of the &quot;Private Snafu&quot; series done under contract for the US Army and never released to theaters. So although the footage is reused here, most people in the audience never saw it in its earlier release. Color was added, as the Snafu shorts were done in black and white. The premise here is similar, mosquitoes are in training for a mission against &quot;the enemy&quot;-a stock human male who serves as a foil for the mosquitoes. Done in documentary style (perhaps &quot;mockumentary&quot; would be more apt) this shows the mosquitoes from their recruitment through their training on to the big day of the attack. If you&#39;ve seen many World War II pictures, much of what happens will be familiar, because many of the givens in those pictures are here. The raid is a success, but the the aftermath is a bit problematic for the mosquitoes in an ending which is cute but underwhelming. The short can be found here and there and is worth watching.

This short opens with the sight of what appears to be a squadron of bombers flying across the sky; the narrator explains how these are heading to strike against the enemy... It then becomes apparent that the &#39;bombers&#39; are in fact mosquitoes and their target is a man. He is well protected having a fly swat and bug spray as well as a mesh window. The action then jumps back and we are shown the training that the mosquitoes are pit through; going through assault causes with flyswats and swinging over flypaper; only the best are deemed fit for action. When the target is selected they head off on there sardine tin aircraft carriers and launch a devastating attack on the poor man&#39;s posterior! While this Warner Brothers short doesn&#39;t contain any of their regular characters it is a lot of fun. I liked how the only speaking was done by the narrator; the mosquitoes just buzzed. There were plenty of good laughs; my favourite being when the reconnaissance mosquito crash landed and his camera was taken away on a stretcher before a daddy longlegs came and picked him up. Made in 1946 the wartime references are obvious but remain inoffensive as the target was just an ordinary person not a coarse stereotype of a wartime enemy. If you are a fan of animated shorts I&#39;d certainly recommend this less well known example.

User reviews

Of Thee I Sting

Clever war-spoof, weak ending.

,Tthis short is essentially a "cheater"

Attack of the mosquitoes

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