Song of the South

In 1946, Disney would produce a film that would eventually be banned in the United States. Based on the Uncle Remus stories collected by Joel Chandler Harris, Song of the South was Disney’s first film using live actors for the frame (Fantasia using musicians) of several animated sequences. Starring James Baskett, Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, Glenn Leedy, Ruth Warrick, Lucile Watson, Hattie McDaniel, Johnny Lee and Nick Stewart, the film features Uncle Remus, a former slave relating to children the folk tales of Br’er Rabbit and his pursuers. “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” also won the Academy Award for Best Song.

The film begins as Seven-year-old Johnny is excited about a vacation at his Grandmother’s Georgia plantation. But when he arrives, he discovers that his parents will be living apart while his father returns to Atlanta to continue his controversial editorship of the city’s newspaper. Johnny is distraught because his father has never left him or his mother before. He leaves that night for Atlanta with a bindle, but he his distracted by the voice of Uncle Remus telling tales of a character named Br’er Rabbit. Curious, Johnny hides behind a tree to spy on a group of people sitting by a fire. By thi time, word has gotten out that Johnny is gone and some plantation residents ask if Uncle Remus has seen him. He replies that he is with him and catches up with Johnny. He befriends the boy and offers him food for the journey, taking him back to his cabin.

As Uncle Remus cooks, he mentions Br’er Rabbit again and Johnny asks him to tell more Remus tells a tale about Br’er Rabbit’s attempt to run away from home. Johnny take the advice and lets Remus take him back to his mother. In the meantime, Johnny makes friends with Toby, a little black boy who lives on the plantation and Ginny Favers, a poor white neighbor. However, Ginny’s two older brothers, Joe and Jake bully Johnny and Ginny. When she gives Johnny a puppy, Ginny’s brothers want to drown it and a rivalry develops between the boys. Johnny’s mother won’t let him keep the puppy, so Johnny takes the dog to Uncle Remus who take the dog and tells Johnny and Toby a tale of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, stressing that people shouldn’t go messing around with something they have no business with in the first place.

Heeding the advice of how Br’er Rabbit used reverse psychology on Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, Johnny begs the Favers brothers to not tell their mother about the dog. They do and get punished, which makes them vow revenge. They go to the plantation and tell Johnny’s mother, who is upset that Remus kept the dog. She orders him not to tell any more stories. Johnny’s birthday arrive and he picks up Ginny to take her to his party. Her mother has used her wedding dress to make Ginny a dress for the party, but Joe and Jake pick another fight  and Ginny ends up in a mud puddle. Her dress is ruined and she refuses to go to the party. Johnny attacks the boys and when Remus breaks up the fight, he goes to comfort Ginny. Remus schools the brothers and tells them not to pester Johnny and Ginny anymore. Johnny doesn’t want to go to the party either since his father won’t be there. Remus discovers the two children and cheers them up by telling them about Br’er Rabbit’s Laughing Place.

Remus returns to the plantation with the children and Johnny’s mother meets them on the way and is angry at Johnny for not having attended his own birthday party. Ginny mentions that Remus told them a story and Johnny’s mother warns him not to spend any more time with Johnny. He packs his bags and leaves for Atlanta. Seeing Remus leave from a distance, Johnny tries to get to him and takes a shortcut through the pasture, but is attacked by the bull. Johnny’s father return and reconciles with his mother, but Johnny calls for Uncle Remus who has returned due to the commotion. He comes to the boy and tells a tale of Br’er Rabbit and the Laughing Place which gives Johnny the strength to survive.

Johnny, Ginny, and Toby are seen a while later skipping along and singing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” while the puppy runs alongside them. Remus is in the area and is shocked when Br’er Rabbit and other characters from his stories appear and interact with the children. He joins the group and they skip away.

This was the film that gave the NAACP fits and eventually pressured The Walt Disney Company to ban it in the 1980s. The organization complained that the film portrayed an “Idyllic master-slave relationship.” Others also blasted the film for the same reason. This might be an error on the film’s part as it never clarifies that it is set in Reconstruction Era south instead of Antebellum. But it is also the mistake of those who complained that they never bothered to fact check with Disney. Therefore it is a mistake on the part of both parties. Maybe Disney should have done what the Hays Office had asked and to mention that the film takes place in the 1870s.

Anyway, for Disney’s first live action dramatic film, it isn’t really all that bad. Sure the cinematography is terrible at times, and Johnny and Ginny can get annoying in certain spots, but the story is still quite interesting and Uncle Remus is a fascinating character. But then, no one really watches Song of the South for the frame.

The animated parts of the film are vibrant and beautiful and each segment does well with each individual story. Br’er Rabbit’s cunning and ability to hoodwink Br’er Fox is always fun to watch as is Br’er Bear’s stupidity. The problem is that there isn’t enough animated segments. Sure the film would have run longer, but it would have been worth it.

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is also the only part of the soundtrack worth remembering.

Final Call: an ok frame story but great animated sequences I’m just glad I don’t have to write “Br’er again. It finds itself under The Three Caballeros at #5.