• Song of the South

11/4/24 (Mon)

Disney has kept this 1946 children’s film out of circulation in the US for the past several decades – it was last released theatrically in 1986 and has never been available in the US on video or streaming – due to charges of racial insensitivity or worse. That made me all the more curious to see it, and the internet makes that easy enough. I vaguely recall watching it as a kid and, other than the animation, just remember a white boy and girl and black boy running around together and spending time with Uncle Remus.

As usual, the complaints have been blown far out of proportion. The setting is the Reconstruction Era South. A Georgia boy moves with his mother to a plantation in the countryside while his father deals with unspecified issues in Atlanta. The unhappy boy plots to run away to reunite with his father. On the way, he runs into Uncle Remus, who tells a story about Br’er Rabbit similarly running from home that, in Remus’ sneaky way, convinces the boy to stay. The boy makes friends with a black kid living on the plantation and the young daughter of poor white trash folk that live nearby – both essentially rank beneath him in the social order, but he doesn’t know that (any more than the children who will be watching the film). The subsequent flimsy plot exists basically to give Uncle Remus a chance to tell more stories related to the boy’s experiences, which he does with flair.

This is very much a children’s film, so no use in getting too analytic about it. The sight of the kids from different backgrounds playing together so harmoniously is presented without emphasis or comment, as if it were the most natural thing in the world – as it should be. The film’s two best features are the animated sequences and James Baskett’s star turn as Uncle Remus. I’ve seen the animated portions separately, and they hold up wonderfully here. The mix of animation and live actors is particularly adroit, especially in the “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” number. The abrupt switch to a brightly lit background as the song opens was apparently designed to cover a mistake, but it’s one of the movie’s most memorable moments.

Meanwhile, Baskett’s sly performance as the inveterate storyteller is definitive. He gives the impression of making it up as he goes along, and his delight at being with the children is as convincing as his disappointment when the mother orders him to steer clear of her boy. He dominates every scene he’s in with his innate dignity and gravitas. (He also provided the voice for Br’er Fox.) The movie wouldn’t have been the same without him. Encouraged by special lobbying by Walt Disney himself, he received a well deserved honorary Oscar, the first black man ever so honored. (His co-star Hattie McDaniel had been the first woman.) The Academy apparently hesitated to give an award for a black guy playing a shareholder as opposed to a doctor or lawyer, but I’m glad good sense prevailed.

The music is not particularly distinguished other than the iconic “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”. Evidently that number has run afoul of certain sensibilities for its supposed resemblance to a pre-Civil War song and its association with this movie; it’s no longer heard at Disney parks, where it was long widely played. Their loss. McDaniel’s “Sooner or Later” seemed vaguely similar to a Sondheim number (an Oscar winner at that) from many years later, but I’ll chalk that up to a fuzzy memory on my part.

The sight of free black shareholders cheerily working for a white family will inevitably ruffle feathers among the usual crowd, and certainly this can never be made in our more enlightened times. While the film initially included some questionable terminology (“massa” and such) that was fortunately removed from the final script, all characters are treated in a dignified manner, and the image of the children playing happily together is subtle commentary of its own. Moreover, Remus unquestionably emerges head and shoulders over the rest of the cast, helped of course by Baskett’s charming portrayal. The film was controversial among blacks even when it was released, though one noted black critic dismissed the charges as “unadulterated hogwash symptomatic of the unfortunate racial neurosis that seems to be gripping so many of our humorless brethren these days” (those days? If only he knew).

I find myself in the rare position of agreeing with Whoopi Goldberg, who’s been pushing to bring the film out of Disney purgatory. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone over the age of 12 other than the buoyant animated sequences. But otherwise it seems pretty tame fare to me and actually positive in its treatment of the kids. People need to lighten up.