Heir Bear

Barney Bear inherits a pirate loot treasure map. It just so happens that a gopher is living and sleeping on top of the treasure chest. This is a fine cartoon short. I would change the title. It looks a little too close to Heil Bear. Just call it Bear Heir instead.

Barney Bear Finds Treasure map and starts to dig up his back yard looking for the money. Meanwhile, the gopher sleeping on all that gold objects to having his slumber interrupted.

Barney had been invented by Rudolph Ising in 1939; after he and producing partner Hugh Harman tailed off their theatrical productions, the character came under the direction of Dick Lundy. Although never one of the major stars of MGM cartoons, he appeared in 25 shorts through 1954, and in four features since then. More a synchronized cartoon that a talking one, the Barney Bear cartoons are enjoyable, just like this one.

While not one of my favourite cartoon characters, Barney Bear was a very funny and likable character where his sluggishness was a huge part of his charm. He was also interesting for being modelled on both his creator Rudolf Ising (who also was his first voice actor until 1941) and the mannerisms of Wallace Beery.

After the Preston Blair and Michael Lah unit stopped after just three (and pretty good too) cartoons, 'The Bear and the Bean', 'The Bear and the Hare' and 'Goggle Fishing Bear', Dick Lundy was the fourth director to take over the Barney series after Ising (10 cartoons), George Gordon (3) and Blair/Lah, and turned out to be the joint-longest-serving director after Ising with 10 contributions to the series. 'Heir Bear' is not one of his best offerings but is again a very solid one, the only real problem being the ending being somewhat on the cruel side for my liking.

There is a slower pace than the usual frenetic energy one and Barney's simplified design and nicer and less gruff character than those in the Ising and Gordon cartoons. The story is slight and formulaic but very amiable and charming.

Barney is very easily watchable, lots of fun and is adorable, his frustration rootable. There is just a preference personally for his more nuanced and detailed original character design and his crankiness and gruffness made his frustration easier to empathise with (there is evidence of that here but it came through stronger before).

Animation is nicely drawn and colourful, if slightly lacking the finesse and meticulousness of the earlier entries of the Barney Bear series. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the impact of actions and gestures.

'Heir Bear' is amusing and the timing, even with the not as frenetic and more laconic pace, is still spot on. Really liked the characteristic silly charm that makes the series so likable.

In conclusion, good solid effort but not one of the best Barney cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Poor Barney (in more than one sense, at that), he goes to a great deal of trouble to find a treasure, only to run into a gopher that makes his life miserable (the Marquise de Gopher, perhaps) and thus we are treated to a raft of sight gags almost painful to watch executed with obvious glee (I wonder if the scriptwriter disliked Barney) for everyone but the victim. The ending of this one reminds me of a quote attributed to Charles Beaumont regarding success in Hollywood that it's "like climbing up a mountain of (fertilizer) to pick a rose growing on top, only to discover when you've reached your goal that you've lost your sense of smell." To say that poor Barney is the butt of a cruel joke from the universe is an understatement. You can almost hear the rimshot at the end. One of the better late Barney Bear shorts, which didn't always work, because the second set featured a "nice" Barney without the offsetting gruffness that made the first incarnation entertaining. Well worth watching. Most recommended.