I recently Netflixed a DVD titled "Poverty Row Theater," which contained three low-budget films from the 1940s.
One of the movies was Private Snuffy Smith, which turned out to be a bizarrely fun film. Bud Duncan, who plays Snuffy, was a little person standing maybe four feet high. Equipped with a bulbous fake nose, he turned out to be a pretty good live-action representation of Snuffy. A scene in which he's firing a seven-foot long musket at some revenuers is wonderful.
The movie ran barely an hour (most low budet films of that era were relatively short, so they could be released as part of a double feature). But in that short time, we see Snuffy inadvertently save a general's life, earning him a spot in the Army. His arch-enemy--a revenuer who had been trying to find Snuffy's still for months--is also now in the Army as Snuffy's sargent.
There was a also a Romeo/Juliet subplot involving two feuding families, some spies out to steal an experimental range-finder being tested by the Army, and Lowizie accidentally discovering a sort of invisibiltiy paint while cooking soap. (Snuffy uses this to turn his dog invisible, so the dog can accompany him to the army base.) All these elements actually manage to come together at the climax. It's hardly the best comedy ever, but it was reasonably funny. The sargent is played by Edgar Kennedy, who was a great film comedian and has some great moments in this film.
The best line of dialogue was when Snuffy was telling the general how much he loves and appreciates his wife: "She's worth her weight in hog livers." Everyone try that out on your wives/girlfriends and see how it goes over.
Anyways, its a fun comic-strip-inspired film. I'm glad I saw it.
