I recall seeing this old Disney film,many years ago. Somebody told me that due to the film’s portrayal of black people, Disney had decided to avoid releasing the film to video. Is this true?
I remember that one of the main characters (Uncle Remus) had a very deep, resonant voice-who was the actor who portrayed the character?
James Baskett.
And yes, Disney won’t re-release it on VHS or DVD in the US because of the racial stereotypes. I saw it as a kid in my home on film and all I remember was the “blue bird on my shoulder” part at the end. It looks like you can still get it in Germany.
Here’s the FAQ of a “Song of the South” website that you may find helpful:
http://www.songofthesouth.net/faq/index.html
BTW, some more info on James Baskett (who also supplied the voice of Br’er Fox).
He had earlier played lawyer Gabby Gibson on the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio program. (More on the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” connections, later.) He also was only 42 or so during the filming of “Song of the South,” and was actually in poor health, suffering from a bad ticker, and eventually died of heart disease when he was 46 or so. Already by 42, his hair was white–not just dyed for the movie–as I have seen photographs of him before “Song of the South.”
Other “Amos ‘n’ Andy” connections:
Horace “Lightnin’” Stewart supplied the voice of Br’er Bear.
Johnny “Algonquin J. Calhoun” supplied the voice of Br’er Rabbit.
Roy Glenn, who did many guest appearances on radio and TV, supplied the voice of Br’er Frog.
(Also BTW, I have a copy.)
On the “Friend Like Me” Sing-a-Long Songs video released with Aladdin, there were clips from Song of the South that went along with the song (I think it was “How do you Do”). Seeing them helped me to understand why they weren’t selling videos of the movie, but it also made me want to see it. How’d you get your hands on a copy, Mjollnir?
I think it’s one of those things, like the WWII propaganda videos starring Donald Duck, that the vast majority of the youth of America just won’t ever get to enjoy. Alas.
If you call up a friend of mine who does legal clearance for Disney, she’ll tell you the company’s policy on this film: They will not release it to anybody who requests it, no matter what the reason is, nor will the company ever likely release it to the public again, because (officially) they are uncomfortable with the content; and (off the record) they are afraid of a backlash.
Wow! And I saw this in a theater when I was just a wee lad. I was a little too young to “appreciate” the racism.
Song of the South, set in the 1870s a decade after the Civil War, may be the most socially realistic movie Disney ever made. All the white people in the story think the world revolves around them and their problems. The black people live in poverty, and are ignored or condescended to by the white adults. The black characters make do with what little they have, and they have a rich oral folklore culture.
Bring back Song of the South!
Well, people <choose one> (die/get fired/retire/“explore other options”) and then other people wonder what the first group of people were thinking in the first place. I imagine a few CEOs down the line and the story will change. Although Eisner seems pretty well entrenched but thankfully the stock is performing poorly. Hopefully when he goes the new CEO will be much more open to their film vault and not let so many of their big films languish outside of the DVD format. I shake my fist in their direction.
I was lucky enough to be one of those to catch this in the theaters in 1986 when I was 12. I enjoyed it a lot.
What about Peter Pan? I don’t see how anyone can sit through that without cringing at the film’s depiction of Native Americans.
Yeah, that was pretty bad. But they weren’t Native Americans. If anything, they’d be Native Never Landers. Which I guess makes pirates and lost boys immigrant Never Landers.
People have also complained about the cats in “Lady and the Tramp” and the birds in “Dumbo” which I don’t really find that offensive…
Plenty of bootlegs available, on VHS, DVD, and VCD. Disney should just suck it up and release it, along with a disclaimer…it’s no more offensive than the racial stereotypes in Gone With The Wind.
It was released on LD in Japan and on VHS in Britain. I have a legal copy of the British version, which I had converted to NTSC. That’s how I got my copy.
This may be off the OP, but I just have to chime in - the movie’s not good. The cartoon parts within the movie are cool, and I hope they are released by themselves in some format, but the overall movie kind of bites.
Uncle Remus is the only likeable human character in the thing. If the bull hadn’t injured the bratty kid, I was going to.
I agree that SOTS should be brought back…stupid Disney for keeping it (and thousands of other great films)hidden in their danged ‘Vault’.
IDBB
resident Disney freak
Can you give some examples of other films they are holding? I’m not up to speed with Disney’s history.
The only remaining feature that Disney has never released on home video is the wartime documentary Victory Through Air Power (1943), an Academy Award nominee for its score.
Here in Australia, song of the South pops up on cable TV the Disney Channel quite often. It was on last week I think and sometime the month before.
I started to watch it but it is SO TEDIOUS!
The live action is painfully slow and obvious, and hollywood hokum at its most lifeless worst.
The animation segments are ugly, both to look at and to listen to. There’s so much screeching and regional accents, that the effort required to unscramble what’s being said is exasperating, given that not much is worth listening to. I lasted about a third of the way in.
Interesting that Disney feel okay about showing it here. It doesn’t deal in racial hatred, but is offensive in its shallow, patronising stereotypes, and I suspect that I were an African American I would be really irritated by calls for its re-release. I do not think it’s any kind of loss to the North American public.
But I will now be scanning the TV listings for “Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves”
Redboss
…apologies for my poor proofreading. Eeeps.
R