Cobs and Robbers

Barney Bear is a farmer in this late cartoon directed by Michael Lah. He's plagued by crows in his corn, particularly two who pose as 'John Scarecrow'.

It reminded a good del of Terry's Heckle & Jeckle (whom I discovered, to my surprise, are not crows, but magpies -- another childhood illusion smashed!), Unlike earlier cartoons in the long-running series, the number of gags is relatively sparse,and Barney gets to talk, voice courtesy of Paul Frees.

Barney Bear has a farm and the crows are coming for his corn. Joe Scarecrow offers his services but it's simply a scam by two crows. It's relatively simple except for Joe Scarecrow. I almost wish that Joe is real and he goes from farm to farm working the land. That would be inventive and surreal. This is not that. This is fine.

"Cobs and Robbers" is an enjoyable installment of one of MGM's lesser cartoon character, Barney Bear. Barney had already been around since 1944 but never caught on with the public--and only made ten cartoons. To me, he seemed like MGM was trying to base the character on Wallace Beery--with nearly identical facial expressions, voice and figure.

In this cartoon, Barney is a frustrated farmer. Crows have discovered his corn field and are running amok eating his crop. In desperation, he hires a BIZARRE scarecrow named Joe to police the place. Little does he know that Joe is, in fact, a couple of crows in disguise. All in all, mildly amusing and with decent MGM animation quality. Not a great cartoon by any standard, and there's nothing that unique or funny about this one, but enjoyable and a nice break from Tom & Jerry.

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. His fourth Barney cartoon 'Cobs and Robbers' is a slight let-down after the previous cartoon 'Barney's Hungry Cousin', but is another solid Barney cartoon. Even with 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). The scarecrow and crows provide amusing conflict.

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.

'Cobs and Robbers' 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. 7/10 Bethany Cox