The Impossible Possum

By the mid-1950s, MGM and other excellent cartoon production companies began making cheaper and cheaper cartoons. Why? Well, UPA had made a lot of money and garnered some Oscars (why, I have no idea) for products like "Gerald McBoing Boing"...and so MGM, Disney and Looney Tunes realized they could cut costs by making less artistic cartoons with low cel counts. In many cases, the cartoons are grossly inferior to those of the 1940s and early 50s. In the case of "The Impossible Possum", however, while the artwork isn't quite as nice as the 1940s Barney Bear cartoons, it is still quite nice...especially by 1954's standards. In particular, the backgrounds are really nicely rendered and the cartoon looks nice.

The story finds Barney wanting to catch a possum for dinner. Now I would imagine that there are better things to eat...but he's a bear and they will eat just about anything! However, as you'd expect, again and again the possum outsmarts Barney...even when Barney uses a sexy lady possum puppet.

While Barney is not among MGM's best cartoon characters of the day, this is a pleasing and enjoyable short film.

Barney Bear is trying to catch a possum for dinner. It turns to be a lot harder than it seems. The show starts with Barney already singing about having possum for dinner. I don't like it. He's just out hunting for one thing? It should start with him finding the possum and then he could sing about having possum for dinner. I would change the gag with Barney reeling in the possum. The possum should release his tail and catapult Barney into the air. That's a funnier joke. Despite a couple of questionable moves, this is still a fine Barney Bear cartoon.

Barney is out to bag some possum for dinner, but the red-headed critter has different plans in the last Barney Bear short cartoon from MGM.

Usually composed of short and medium-length gags, this one takes its time on the sequences, with director Dick Lundy taking delight, as he so often does, in trying to find new ways to have Barney fall out of a tree.

Like other MGM cartoons, this is an old-fashioned affair, alternating synchronized action with silent-movie gags. Not a bad one to go out on.

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 Impossible Possum' is not just one of Lundy's best Barney offerings, to me it's one of the best of the series. Even with a slower pace than the usual frenetic energy of the early Barney cartoons and Barney's simplified design and nicer and less gruff character than those in the Ising and Gordon cartoons.

Have to say that it was lovely to see this side to Barney. It's not his original personality, which there is a preference for, but as always he is a lot of fun, adorable and very easy to like and he always has been. The possum is a great supporting character, good comic timing as well as helping give the story purpose.

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 Impossible Possum' is a very funny cartoon 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. Veteran voice actor Paul Frees characterises the characters beautifully.

In summary, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox