The Uninvited Pest (1943) Online

Just watched this Barney Bear cartoon for M-G-M on YouTube. A squirrel has gathered some nuts up in his tree. He then spots a bowl of them at Barney's cabin and tries to sneak in there to get some for himself. Eventually, he gets caught...Slow at first, then the gags come gradually to earned hilarity as we see the bear get pummeled by objects coming down whenever he opens a door. No director is credited but the YouTube uploader says it's Rudolf Ising. If so, this is certainly one of his better ones. Compared to Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry or even Tex Avery's Droopy, Barney Bear isn't one of M-G-M's most memorable cartoon characters but he still deserves some kind of recognition for even surviving past his creator Ising's reign at the Leo the Lion animation unit. So on that note, I highly recommend The Uninvited Pest.

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.

It is sad somewhat that 'The Uninvited Pest' was Ising's last Barney cartoon before various directors took over for the other 16 in the series. His ten contributions to the Barney Bear series were all among his better efforts, and 'The Uninvited Pest' is one of the series' best. As ever with the Barney cartoons, it's slight in the story. With that being said, it's also very well animated and is one of the series' funniest in a way where any reservations of a lack of originality was forgotten.

As to be expected, Barney's personality again is very well established and he proves again why he was deserving of his own series and it was sad he didn't last longer. He is a fun and adorable character and easy to root for, one can really understand his frustration. The animation is colourful and beautifully drawn with fluid movements and meticulous attention to detail. The amount of detail given to Barney's character design was incredibly nuanced and it was a shame that it became simplified later on and lost its special uniqueness.

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.

The gags are never less than very funny, there is a lot of cute and silly charm and the squirrel is suitably pesty but is also as fun and sweet as Barney.

On the whole, one of the series' best. 9/10 Bethany Cox