Song of the South (1946)
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Song of the South Movie Review
Song of the South is a 1946 Disney live-action/animated family musical film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson and starring James Baskett. It’s quite underrated.
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“You can’t run away from trouble.
There ain’t no place that far“
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This continues to be the only Disney film not released today on home media which is somewhat understandable, but a bit too harsh nonetheless. So it follows a boy growing on a plantation during the Reconstruction Era where he befriends Uncle Remus who tells him some stories which then turn to cartoon form.
Let’s get the racism out of the way first as it defines this movie unfortunately. Yes, it’s there in some scenes and it’s undeniable that it’s very problematic. The entire relationship between the boy and this black man is so wonderful and so misunderstood by the mother that it really annoyed me. Him departing was bad and his interactions with the white family were mostly hugely problematic.
But, those are only a couple of very troublesome scenes and the rest of the movie isn’t bad at all and is actually rather sweet and charming and it’s a shame thus that more people cannot see it nowadays for it’s very endearing overall. I really liked the boy’s adventures on the plantation, especially his relationship with the girl and the part with the dogs was wonderful. Everything in those scenes was exceedingly old-fashioned which I ate up.
As for the cartoon sequences, they could have been even better and they certainly could have been longer, but overall I really enjoyed those segments as Br’er Rabbit, Bear and especially Fox are such amusing creations and the brisk dialogue really was very entertaining. It’s a cartoon from the yesteryear and I really liked that quaint feel about it.
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Now, Uncle Remus is an absolutely wonderful creation and I have to say that he’s such a superbly written, truly great character and a wonderful man that it first you admire Walt Disney for making a film with a black lead and a great one at that, but then what happens to him isn’t great so it remains a problematic, mixed movie when it comes to race relations.
James Baskett entirely deserved his honorary Oscar for this wonderful performance as he was basically unknown before this movie and he still managed to be very believable and that needs to be respected. Bobby Driscoll as Johnny is also very believable and likable. And Ginny is also such a cute girl. But the family is otherwise very unlikable and those other boys are typically cartoony bullies.
Song of the South looks excellent for sure. The cinematography and imagery of the plantation is beautiful and although some may find it glorified, I found it historically accurate and pleasingly old-fashioned. It succeeds as a historical picture by all means and a rare glimpse into what this Reconstruction period looked like.
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The animation is very well mixed with the live-action as it all looked polished and beautiful. The movie is weakly paced for sure and the dialogue can be of course hugely troublesome. The animated segments needed a bigger screen time as some of the live-action stuff is quite boring, but the score is absolutely fantastic. All the songs here are cute with of course Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah stealing the show and definitely deserving its Oscar as it’s an undeniably endearing, hugely catch and wonderfully sung number. The movie came to life whenever that song was used.
Song of the South continues to be an infamous movie when it comes to its racism and surely it is present in a couple of very problematic sequences. But overall it’s nowhere near as horrible as many would say and it deserves more praise for the things it does right and those are the wonderfully animated segments, the classic song Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and a deservedly Oscar-honored performance from James Baskett whose Uncle Remus is a wonderful creation. The movie can be flawed and antiquated, but it’s also charming and overall quite solid.
