Cartoon storytelling, part two: "The Unbearable Bear"
The Unbearable Bear (Schlesinger/Warner Bros., 1943), directed by Chuck Jones Here's the scenario. A cock-er-ney rogue of a fox is trying to rob a bear couple's house. Mr Bear, a "bloomin' copper", is out, while Mrs Bear complains about him in her sleep. One by one, more characters will join the story, changing the scenario and sometimes altering the dynamics of the other characters, keeping the cartoon fresh and entertaining. First, a talkative little mouse named Sniffles, who catches the burglar trying to crack a safe. To stop him from alerting Mrs Bear, the fox convinces him that he's Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. (Sniffles gets in a great bit of bad logic here: "If you say you're Robin Hood then you must be Robin Hood, 'cause Robin Hood wouldn't tell a lie!") So here's the new scenario. The fox is trying to rob the house without waking Mrs Bear. Although Sniffles is on his side, he's still makin