Song of the South on Dvd Discussion & Speculation Thread

[herman_the_german]

Normally I'd agree, but in this case, with Disney flat out refusing to sell the product to a willing public? Sorry, I can't.

The more people that see this great film, the better.

This is not my crusade, so I'll stop after this post. But it is Disney's choice if they want to release something or not, they do own the films, you know.

I cannot see how some of us call ourselves Disney fans, yet condone piracy. The first one it hurts is us (we are spending lots of TAX dollars to stop it, you know). The second people it hurts are the makers of the films we love so much. If we support piracy we take money that could be used creatively by the filmmakers and put it in pirates' pockets.
We support racketeering, murder, extorsion, etc. We are giving our money to somebody that does not deserve it; they had nothing to do with the making of the films. Disney is a big corporation, they can take it (it probably does not make them happy though), but there are lots of others involved that deserve to profit from the film that are not doing it.

It's illegal (big deal), but it hurts the artists and filmakers we admire so much.

[Eeyore]

This is not my crusade, so I'll stop after this post. But it is Disney's choice if they want to release something or not, they do own the films, you know.

It's illegal (big deal), but it hurts the artists and filmakers we admire so much.

It's not my crusade either. I've never bought a bootleg in my life. I just don't see how it hurts the artists and filmmakers as you say.

Is Disney losing money because folks are watching bootlegs of SoTS? No, because they don't offer the product for sale. If these products magically disappeared tomorrow, would profits go up? Of course not.

How does it hurt the actual artists, animators, and actors? Did they make a film, hoping that it would be locked away in some warehouse forever like Indy's grail? Are they proud that Disney is so embarassed about their film, they won't even show it to anyone? They sure as heck don't benefit financially by having it locked away. It's *Disney's decision* not to sell the film that hurts the artists and filmmakers.

When it comes to bootlegging of *products for sale*, then I totally agree with you. Bootlegs of Lion King or Snow White are harming everybody just as you said.

[wizzer]

all the people involved with the production of song of the south already got paid. i want to see the movie and i'm not going to pay 50 bucks for a region 2 vhs that i can't play and i'm not shelling out 150+ for a laserdisc. i don't think disney is getting a cut on the resales of their laserdiscs marked up 500% are they? i'll pick up a copy easily played in my dvd player for a reasonable price which is payed to the person who took the time to make a nice copy with the best elements avaliable to them. buena vista, anchor bay, joe's house, whatever. only a few disney movies cause this problem for me. aladdin,bambi,cinderella and song of the south. the first 3 are all coming to dvd. i cant wait for bambi, i have aladdin on ld and i will wait for cinderella. SoTS is one of those you gotta do what you gotta do. why should only the very rich and people with vcrs from england get to enjoy this movie? i coulda looked harder for the bambi LD but an easier opp for the dvd came about. start talking about horror movies and the amount of bootleged copies of movies from laserdiscs that probably wont be coming to dvd i would like to pick up quadruples. i also trade dvd+r's with a few different people and make my own artwork for the amaray cases i buy that i don't ever plan on replacing with the genuine release. guess i'm goin to hell. or jail

[herman_the_german]

http://www.dvdtoons.com/features/55

[Maerj]

I agree with Eeyore on this one. I don't believe in bootlegging either, BUT something like Song of the South is a little different. It has never been available on video here in the US at all and the company seems to want to pretend like it doesn't exist most of the time. Now most of us here are Disney nuts enough that should a real, official DVD of this movie be released, we'd all run out and buy it. Until that time there will be bootlegs made of it and sold. Most people are just curious and just want to see this movie.

[Disney Guru]

I just wanted to say that Song Of The South was only released in the USA once. That was in the mid 80's. Before this film was banned by the NCAAP. It was the old white embedded clamshell style release. After it was banned Disney recalled the title. Their are still a few authentic copies out there. All of the DVD's That are floating around out there are fakes. HomeMade.Not For Collectors. If you just want it for the movie buy it but if you want it for collectors purpose don't buy it.

[Udvarnoky]

No, you are wrong. Song of the South was NEVER officially released on any home video medium in the U.S. The authentic copies you refer to are PAL copies, which people often buy off eBay for outrageous prices in hopes of converting them to NTSC. You see, the movie was released officially on VHS in Europe, and on Laserdisc in Japan, but NEVER in America.

The movie was also never banned by the NCAAP or anyone else. Disney has decided on their own not to release it. Please see http://www.songofthesouth.net for more info.

Hope this clears things up for you:)

[Joe Carioca]

"Song of the South" was officially released here in Brazil years ago, and it even had been constantly aired on TV. I hope Disney releases the film on DVD, at lest in international territories.

[Udvarnoky]

Brazil as well, then. Just about everywhere but the U.S. I think that all other countries have it discontinued by 2001, though.

[Disney Guru]

Thanks for correcting me. That is what I had heard from some one that i know that used to work for Disney. I had no clue. And I have also heard alot that the NCAAP had something to do with it. Excuse my ignorance about this title.

[Udvarnoky]

It's not really your fault. So much misinformation has circulated throughout the years that it's almost impossible to get the correct info.

[Rebel]

I bought one of the PAL VHS imports of "Song of the South" several years ago. I watched it once on my PAL VCR and then made an NTSC copy for my own use. Over the years, I wore out the NTSC copy and now my PAL VCR has quit working. Since everything is DVD now, I have no intention of ever buying another VCR, certainly not a PAL one. So although it has only been used twice, my PAL "Song of the South" VHS tape is essentially useless. I wish I had made multiple NTSC backups when I had the chance.

Now of course I would be very interested in having "Song of the South" on DVD, but I have a big problem with bootlegging. Although I can understand the reasoning behind the argument that a bootleg of "Song of the South" is acceptable because Disney is not providing a legal option, some flaws stand out.

First of all is the price. Why does a bootleg copy of Song of the South cost $35.00? The bootlegger certainly does not deserve that much profit margin. Looking at the songofthesouth.biz link at the beginning of this thread, I see that if you buy in quantities of 10 or more then you can get the DVDs for $20 each. That is more than I paid for my brand new legal 2 disc release of "Finding Nemo." Why should a bootlegger charge that much for an illegal copy of someone else's intellectual property? Also, why is anyone buying bootleg DVDs in bulk? If you are going to break the law anyway, then just make a bootleg of the bootleg. In other words, just buy one copy of the bootleg DVD and then burn your own copies.

So many of these bootleggers try to claim that they are not doing it for the money and that they are simply providing people with movies that would otherwise be unavailable to them. If that were true then they would be selling the bootlegs for something close to cost rather than for 10 times the cost. When you buy a new Disney DVD for $20, it is a justifiable price because you are not only rewarding Disney for the production of the video that you are buying, but you are also investing in Disney so that they can continue to produce quality movies in the future. When you buy a legitimate out of print Disney DVD on eBay for $35, it is a justifiable price because of the limited quantities that are available. When you buy a bootleg for $35, there is no justification for the price because the bootlegger can always make more for about $3 each.

Another issue is the idea that production of the bootlegs does not hurt Disney since Disney is not currently selling the movie. However, if Disney were to introduce a new DVD of "Song of the South" would all of the bootleggers stop selling their bootleg copies of the movie? Yeah right! More likely is that they would continue to sell them and their sales would actually increase because Disney would be paying big bucks to promote the release and many people would buy the bootlegs thinking that they were the real thing. Even if some of the bootleggers were to honor the legal release of the film and stopped producing their illegal copies, many of the people, who have already bought the bootlegs for $20-$35 or more, are not going to turn around and shell out more moeny to buy the Disney release just because it is legal and their bootleg copy is not. Perhaps everyone in this forum would, but there are thousands of people out there who will be satisfied with a bootleg copy and thus Disney will lose money due to the bootlegs currently being sold.

Last but not least, regardless of why you might want the movie, regardless of how much you want the movie, regardless of any justification you might have, bootlegs are illegal.

[Grunches]

Does anyone know when this is comming out? I've never seen it (except splash mountain).

[Chernabog]

Does anyone know when this is comming out? I've never seen it (except splash mountain).

Noone knows if it ever will come out from the vault in a legal release - but I hope and think it will!

[Zorro]

This is only a rumor, so take it for what it's worth, but I've heard that SOTS is under consideration as a Walt Disney Treasures collectors tin. It would make sense to do it this way, since Leonard Maltin (who, I think, is a big fan of this film) could introduce it, putting it into historical perspective. We'll see.

[STASHONE]

bootlegs = racketeering extorsion and murder...


"ey mugsy... yous got dat song a da sout' dub ready for me yet or do i gotsta explain one more time why dey call it a steel-toe bootleg ya fathead idiot"






reminds me of these stupid commercials from the ONDCP that say marijuana funds terrorism and impregnates 12 year olds... sure, if you're a preteen suicide bomber having unprotected sex while smoking a doob.


eh exagerration?

[Disney Guru]

Well I have seen this edition for sale on E-Bay. But my copy is a conversion frokm a the laserdisc with Japaneese Subtitles. I have it on VHS. I know that on E-Bay once I saw a copy that I almost bought. It looked really professional and it looked like the Vault Disney Collection Releases. It was had the same Vault Disney Signs on it as is on the Vault Disney releases of Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson. Old Yeller, Parent Trap. It had the official Disney DVD mark on it to. Even though it was $45.00 I would have bought it if it hadn't been so darn high priced. Because The highest I have ever paid for a single DVD was $22.00 which was Treasure Planet when It Came Out. But That DVD even had the Vault Disney sign on the DVD. It looked great to me. If it would have been $30 or under I would have bought it in a minnute.[/img]

[MickeyMousePal]

I want to get Song of the South.

But I will wait until it comes out.

I don't want a bootleg copy.

[ArtOfDisney]

I feel as long as you own a copy of Song of the South a Transfer copy is alright to have. I own the VHS in PAL format. Never opened it, or watched it. But I also have the Transfer on DVD. Is that wrong? I still own one legit.

[goofystitch]

I bought "Song Of The South" on DVD at a comic convention a year ago and I couldn't be happier with it. I know it's a bootleg and it only plays on my computer and my Disney DVD player. The bottom of the disc is even blue, like a burnable cd, but the picture is clear. The subtitles are in Chineese, but only play during musical numbers, like a sing along. The cover art is the same as the U.K. PAL VHS cover.