The Little Wise Quacker

This is a very good short directed by the forgotten director, Dick Lundy. Most people remember Hanna and Barbera and Tex Avery. But very few remember Lundy, who chiefly directed Barney Bear cartoons in the early 1950s. Lundy wasn't the greatest director MGM had, but he did some very good work. In this cartoon, the focus is on an extremely annoying little duck. Visions of an orange glaze come to mind whenever I see this cartoon. I don't generally go for hunting as a rule, but I'd make an exception here. I'd shoot first and worry about breaking rules and paying fines later! Well worth watching. Recommended.

Barney Bear goes duck hunting. The government rulebook has three rules: no shooting before dawn; you can't shoot a sleeping duck; and any duck in the air may be shot. As soon as the sun rises, all the ducks disappear, save one who remains stubbornly asleep.

It's a typically good episode in the Barney Bear series, thanks to a fine series of gags by Heck Allen and co-writer Jack Cosgrove, and Dick Lundy's rapid-fire series of gags on a theme.

Barney was one of the last creations of Rudy Ising for MGM's cartoon division, and was one of the studio's longer-lasting cartoon characters. Although never the top drawer stuff by Tex Avery, or the immensely popular Tom & Jerry cartoons from Hanna & Barbera, it provided solid laughs for more than a decade.

Barney Bear goes duck hunting at Lake Quackhappy. The rules say that there is no shooting before sunrise and there is no shooting a sleeping duck. As soon as the sun rises, all the ducks fly off except one. That one duck refuses to wake up. Of course, another rule says that he can shoot the duck when it's up in the air. So he tries to launch the duck any which way.

I don't know much about duck hunting. The rules feel a bit random. I would suggest changing the sunrise/sunset rules to something more time specific. Let's say that he can't shoot until after 8 am. The ducks can suddenly have a giant alarm clock which sets them to take flight. It would be a funnier gag. Next, I don't get the sleeping rule. It's very random. Nevertheless, this is fun and a bit of random nonsense is not that big of a deal.

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. 'The Wise Little Quacker' is his first effort, and it is a very good one, 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 duck is annoying, intentionally, but also amusing.

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.

'The Wise Little Quacker' is very funny throughout 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, very good first Barney Bear cartoon from Lundy, who in general was deserving of more credit as a director. 8/10 Bethany Cox