Song of the South on Dvd Discussion & Speculation Thread

[Grunches]

I want to get Song of the South.

But I will wait until it comes out.

I don't want a bootleg copy.

Same with me. I will just wait untill the real thing comes out on dvd

[Grunches]

Anyone know where I can get the Song of the South without having to pay an arm and a leg?

[The Lizard King]

Anyone know where I can get the Song of the South without having to pay an arm and a leg?

I don't know... Is $5 an "arm and a leg"? E-mail me.

TLK

[fairuza]

$5 for a laserdisc to dvd transfer? that would be a good deal. a vcd though would be too low quality for my tastes.

[The Lizard King]

$5 for a laserdisc to dvd transfer? that would be a good deal. a vcd though would be too low quality for my tastes.

No, we're not talking about a VCD. This is definitely a DVD.

TLK

[MickeyMousePal]

I can't wait for Songs of the South to come out on DVD.
I could wait forever for Songs of the South to come out.
Why won't Disney just relased it already.
I never saw the whole movie.

[swray1024]

I really wish it would come out on DVD...$5??? Do it!!!!!! Jeez, I would be interested in it for that!!!!!!!!

[Disney Guru]

I can't wait for Songs of the South to come out on DVD.
I could wait forever for Songs of the South to come out.
Why won't Disney just relased it already.
I never saw the whole movie.

I got mine for free from a friend who had the Japaneese Laserdisc and he converted it to VHS for me.

I wouldn't sell my copy for all the money in the world.

[Disney Guru]

As we all are wondering where is this title on VHS or DVD ? I mean Song of The South was an American Outing I remeber when I was little always hearing from my parents how great of a movie it was and such and such! ONe day a dear sweet friend just happened to give me a copy of it on VHS that he had transferred from his LaserDisc of it ! Even though mine has the Japanese Subtitles at the bottom of the screen I cherish it. Here is the info I found on the web as why it was never released but I still wonder!

For many years one of the most popular Disney films, Song of the South has been criticized for soft-pedaling race relations during the South's Reconstruction era. Many of the African-American characters, especially Uncle Remus, are considered too Uncle Tom-ish, and there's no denying that the film does not address the real concerns of the black characters, other than as how they relate to the white characters. However, if one can get past this considerable stumbling block, there is a great deal to admire in Song. The story is melodramatic but engrossing, filled with an appealing innocence which may be too fanciful to be true, but is irresistible nonetheless. The score is a delight, and includes the classic "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," as well as the infectious "Laughing Place" and the sinuous "Sooner or Later." What makes the film, however, are the fabulous animated sequences (as well as the artful blending of live action and animation). The cartoon characters have a life and vitality that is palpable; they truly light up the screen. Both the live action and animated segments are aided by a lush color palette that is truly gorgeous. The cast is quite good, with Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten adorable without being cloying, and James Baskett avuncular and charming. Due to the controversy surrounding it, Song of the South has been largely unavailable in the U.S. since 1986. — Craig Butler

Well that hardly explains it does it why why why ? Does it seem that this the best Disney Classic has been banned Why was Gone With The Wind released then it has black slaves by the truckload!

Here is a brief review!Song of the South is a blend of live action and animation, based on the popular "Uncle Remus" stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Set in the years just after the Civil War, the story begins with young Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) being sent to live at the southern plantation of his grandmother (Lucile Watson) while his parents contemplate divorce. At first disconsolate, the boy is cheered up by African-American handyman Uncle Remus (James Baskett), who tells him many delightful fables concerning the clever trickster Br'er Rabbit, whose adventures are illustrated in cartoon form. Each story has a moral, which Johnny applies to the exigencies of his real life. Johnny's mother (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of Uncle Remus, and orders the boy never to visit the kindly old black man again. Uncle Remus packs his bags and leaves; while chasing after him, Johnny is injured by a bull. He recovers thanks to the friendly presence of Uncle Remus, and all is forgiven. The film was awarded the Best Song Oscar for "Zip-a-dee Doo Dah," and James Baskett won a special Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. Disney has withheld the movie in the U.S. ever since its last theatrical re-release in 1986, due to controversy over what some (including the NAACP) argue is a sugar-coated depiction of the Reconstruction-era South. — Hal Erickson

[karlsen]

Disney Guru, why did you post this?

The Song of the South movie has been talked about a lot on this forum before, and I bet everybody know that there are lots of rumors to why it aint out yet.

You have posted over 850 posts in 6 months so you have to been around to read about them in the past as well.

[Escapay]

Song of the South, IMO, depicts a story through a child's eyes, in this case Johnny's. Johnny's just a little boy, he really hasn't been "corrupted" by the pessimism of the adult world yet. He sees the black workers (NOT slaves, since this is post-Civil War, a glaring omission that is not mentioned in the movie at all!), as his friends, and Uncle Remus as a second father. Sure, Toby comes off as the black child that's just made to look after him, with no parents at all (He does have a mother, she was mentioned when Toby and Johnny encountered the Faver boys.), but he and Luana are more of Johnny's best friends rather than someone hired to play with him and the daughter of white trash.

And I didn't see white trash in Luana's family. I saw a family that had to struggle to make ends meet. Not everyone in the south had a sprawling plantation and were rich, you know. And just because they weren't rich didn't make them white trash.

I think the main problem with Song of the South is that people don't understand that it is about a man telling stories. They want to look at is as rewriting history, showing the South to be a pleasant place for blacks. We know it isn't, but we don't know every southern family that had black slaves. What if some were like Miss Doshy (aka Johnny's grandmother), and treated the workers with respect, and had long-standing friendships with them (Miss Doshy and Uncle Remus). It takes just one family to disprove that all Southern owners of slaves were cruel to them. Perhaps Miss Doshy and her family were based on that one family.

As for the question about GWTW:

"black slaves by the truckload"

I don't remember seeing that in the movie. What I remember is a story about a young woman making it through the Civil War years and beyond. It is not meant to focus on the South as a whole, or their "black slaves by the truckload". It's a story about Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler.

If anyone's read the book, they'd see things a lot less tame than the movie (such as the common use of the n-word, by both whites and blacks). I think with the movie, they *knew* they weren't going to be politically correct (honestly, what was politically correct then?), since they were focusing not on the South, but on one woman. It was HER story, and HER views.

Escapay

[Escapay]

Disney Guru, why did you post this?

The Song of the South movie has been talked about a lot on this forum before, and I bet everybody know that there are lots of rumors to why it aint out yet.

You have posted over 850 posts in 6 months so you have to been around to read about them in the past as well.

If you check his first post, I believe it's about Song of the South. In fact, I'll just bump that topic up since there's a lot there about SOTS.

Escapay

[Escapay]

*Bumping this up rather than use the new topic*

As we all are wondering where is this title on VHS or DVD ? I mean Song of The South was an American Outing I remeber when I was little always hearing from my parents how great of a movie it was and such and such! ONe day a dear sweet friend just happened to give me a copy of it on VHS that he had transferred from his LaserDisc of it ! Even though mine has the Japanese Subtitles at the bottom of the screen I cherish it. Here is the info I found on the web as why it was never released but I still wonder!

For many years one of the most popular Disney films, Song of the South has been criticized for soft-pedaling race relations during the South's Reconstruction era. Many of the African-American characters, especially Uncle Remus, are considered too Uncle Tom-ish, and there's no denying that the film does not address the real concerns of the black characters, other than as how they relate to the white characters. However, if one can get past this considerable stumbling block, there is a great deal to admire in Song. The story is melodramatic but engrossing, filled with an appealing innocence which may be too fanciful to be true, but is irresistible nonetheless. The score is a delight, and includes the classic "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," as well as the infectious "Laughing Place" and the sinuous "Sooner or Later." What makes the film, however, are the fabulous animated sequences (as well as the artful blending of live action and animation). The cartoon characters have a life and vitality that is palpable; they truly light up the screen. Both the live action and animated segments are aided by a lush color palette that is truly gorgeous. The cast is quite good, with Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten adorable without being cloying, and James Baskett avuncular and charming. Due to the controversy surrounding it, Song of the South has been largely unavailable in the U.S. since 1986. — Craig Butler

Well that hardly explains it does it why why why ? Does it seem that this the best Disney Classic has been banned Why was Gone With The Wind released then it has black slaves by the truckload!

Here is a brief review!Song of the South is a blend of live action and animation, based on the popular "Uncle Remus" stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Set in the years just after the Civil War, the story begins with young Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) being sent to live at the southern plantation of his grandmother (Lucile Watson) while his parents contemplate divorce. At first disconsolate, the boy is cheered up by African-American handyman Uncle Remus (James Baskett), who tells him many delightful fables concerning the clever trickster Br'er Rabbit, whose adventures are illustrated in cartoon form. Each story has a moral, which Johnny applies to the exigencies of his real life. Johnny's mother (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of Uncle Remus, and orders the boy never to visit the kindly old black man again. Uncle Remus packs his bags and leaves; while chasing after him, Johnny is injured by a bull. He recovers thanks to the friendly presence of Uncle Remus, and all is forgiven. The film was awarded the Best Song Oscar for "Zip-a-dee Doo Dah," and James Baskett won a special Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. Disney has withheld the movie in the U.S. ever since its last theatrical re-release in 1986, due to controversy over what some (including the NAACP) argue is a sugar-coated depiction of the Reconstruction-era South. — Hal Erickson

Song of the South, IMO, depicts a story through a child's eyes, in this case Johnny's. Johnny's just a little boy, he really hasn't been "corrupted" by the pessimism of the adult world yet. He sees the black workers (NOT slaves, since this is post-Civil War, a glaring omission that is not mentioned in the movie at all!), as his friends, and Uncle Remus as a second father. Sure, Toby comes off as the black child that's just made to look after him, with no parents at all (He does have a mother, she was mentioned when Toby and Johnny encountered the Faver boys.), but he and Luana are more of Johnny's best friends rather than someone hired to play with him and the daughter of white trash.

And I didn't see white trash in Luana's family. I saw a family that had to struggle to make ends meet. Not everyone in the south had a sprawling plantation and were rich, you know. And just because they weren't rich didn't make them white trash.

I think the main problem with Song of the South is that people don't understand that it is about a man telling stories. They want to look at is as rewriting history, showing the South to be a pleasant place for blacks. We know it isn't, but we don't know every southern family that had black slaves. What if some were like Miss Doshy (aka Johnny's grandmother), and treated the workers with respect, and had long-standing friendships with them (Miss Doshy and Uncle Remus). It takes just one family to disprove that all Southern owners of slaves were cruel to them. Perhaps Miss Doshy and her family were based on that one family.

As for the question about GWTW:

"black slaves by the truckload"

I don't remember seeing that in the movie. What I remember is a story about a young woman making it through the Civil War years and beyond. It is not meant to focus on the South as a whole, or their "black slaves by the truckload". It's a story about Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler.

If anyone's read the book, they'd see things a lot less tame than the movie (such as the common use of the n-word, by both whites and blacks). I think with the movie, they *knew* they weren't going to be politically correct (honestly, what was politically correct then?), since they were focusing not on the South, but on one woman. It was HER story, and HER views.

Escapay

[Disney Guru]

Well as far as I now Gone With The Wind did have a lot of Black Slaves in it!

I know the book didn't have all of that and I think it was a great book but the movie starring the classics Vivien Leigh, and Clark Gable has become an American Icon! If you go down to Georgia as I have many a time you will find that their whole state is Dedicated to Gone With The Wind! I think that is a great thing.

Every state needs something great!

For those of you who have forgotten about Gone With The Wind Here Is a little bit of info!

Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to expand this concept, and Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel, into nearly four hours' worth of screen time, at a then-astronomical $3.7 million budget, that has become one of the most beloved movies of all time. GWTW opens in April of 1861, at the palatial southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) hears that her casual beau Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) plans to marry "mealy-mouthed" Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite warnings from her father (Thomas Mitchell) and her faithful servant Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett intends to throw herself at Ashley at an upcoming barbecue at Twelve Oaks. Alone with Ashley, she goes into a fit of histrionics, all of which is witnessed by rogueish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the feisty, thoroughly self-centered Scarlett: "we're bad lots, both of us." The movie's famous action continues from the burning of Atlanta (actually the destruction of a huge wall left over from King Kong) through the now-classic closing line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Holding its own against stiff competition (many consider 1939 to be the greatest year of the classical Hollywood studios), Gone With the Wind won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar). The film grossed nearly $192 million, assuring that, just as he predicted, Selznick's epitaph would be "The Man Who Made Gone With the Wind." — Hal Erickson

Here Is Some More Info

As epic as the 1,000-plus page Margaret Mitchell bestseller on which it was based, David O. Selznick's production of Gone With the Wind (1939) went through three directors, a well-publicized search for Scarlett O'Hara, and a then-enormous $4,000,000 budget, resulting in one of the all-time highest-grossing movies. Sparing no expense on sets and costumes, Selznick aimed to produce the ultimate Technicolor blockbuster, faithfully adapting the book's Civil War era travails of Southern belle Scarlett and her roguish match Rhett Butler. While grand in scale (and length), the film's cast, especially relative unknown Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and MGM king Clark Gable as Rhett, made the narrative as engrossing as the spectacular recreation of the burning of Atlanta (in which old sets were torched). Premiering first in Atlanta, Gone With the Wind delivered on the promise of the hype, breaking box-office records. Earning an unprecedented thirteen Oscar nominations, Gone With the Wind won eight statuettes and two special awards, taking Best Picture in Hollywood's "miraculous" year, as well as Best Director for Victor Fleming, and Best Actress. Best Supporting Actress Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Oscar. Perennially popular, Gone With the Wind inspired the 1994 sequel Scarlett. — Lucia Bozzola

[Class316]

Thank God for bootlegs, without which I would have no SOTS on DVD.

[Mermaid Kelly]

I want to get Song of the South.

But I will wait until it comes out.

I don't want a bootleg copy.

Same with me. I will just wait untill the real thing comes out on dvd

Me too......I really hope they release it..a LOT of people want it!

[Escapay]

Well as far as I now Gone With The Wind did have a lot of Black Slaves in it!

Really? Please, tell me. What scenes do we see nothing but as you put it "black slaves by the truckload"? The BOOK may have had many mentions of a lot of black slaves in it (I don't exactly remember, seeing as I read it about 5 or so years ago), but the movie steered clear of showing lots of slaves in one area. Aside from a small work scene in the beginning, the little girls fanning the napping women, and Big Sam and the others going to dig trenches (when all of Atlanta is running away), there were no other major slave scenes. And there were probably 4 or so major black characters (Mammy, Prissy, Big Sam, Pork).

Escapay

[Disney Guru]

Al right I made a mistake sorry!

[AwallaceUNC]

I've never actually seen it, so I can't comment much about whether it comes across as racially insensitive (though I somehow doubt it). A local video store once had an in-house VHS copy on display and for sale for like $45, but I wasn't interested. It looked fake to me anyways, and I'd rather wait for the DVD.

-Aaron

[AwallaceUNC]

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.

True, but if Disney releases it in 6 months, then it IS problematic. Everyone who has a bootleg copy were potential (make that likely) customers for Disney. A good deal of them may not repurchase, especially if they paid high dollar for a boot leg that they are content with. In that way, it does interfere with profits. And of course, once Disney's release went on stores, the bootlegs would be just as problematic as they are for movies that are already currently distributed.

...Thus the speculation that Disney's recent action against bootleggers is indicative of a near-future release.

And even aside from that, there's the fact that Disney apparently doesn't want their product being distributed... a right that is both legally and morally their's. I disagree with it, but I can't ignore it.

-Aaron