The Song of The South (1946)
Digital encode from Japanese Laser Disk Release
1, Movie Digital Encode from Japan,2. Movie Trailer, 3, TV Trailer, 4. Coal Black Cartoon
The movie as seen from the dates of it's 5 Major Releases
November 12, 1946
Song of the South's premiere. A record-breaking release campaign for both Walt Disney and RKO pictures alike, this movie was heralded worldwide as Walt Disney's greatest accomplishment yet. A great deal of memorabilia can be found from this release because of such a successful campaign to boost the popularity of Walt Disney's first live-action/animation full-length film. Notice the campaign's ornate and elegant themes. Much of the main focus was being placed upon the live action aspect of the film, as opposed to the animation aspect, as stressed in subsequent releases. The cartoon packaged with this movie is a product of it's time and a leftover from WWII that ended but a year before this release and was a chance for some theater owners to protest some of the shortages that had not had time enough to abate due to our continued presence on both Theaters of War.
1956
Song of the South's second release, this time released by Buena Vista Pictures. All subsequent releases would be distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. Information and memorabilia from this release is fairly difficult to find. Notice the sharp contrast between the 1946 campaign depicting live-action as the main focus compared to this campaign, where only Uncle Remus and his characters are depicted. This clearly shows where the majority of the film's popularity lay—not so much in the live action sequences, but rather in the animated sequences. Of all the releases, I liked this campaign style the best.
1972
Song of the South was released a third time in 1972 for Walt Disney's 50th anniversary. Touting a new look which was in stark contrast to the film's previous release in 1956, it was almost as if the movie's identity had started anew, and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" was blazoned across the top, acting as the main trigger to people who were still humming the 1948 Academy Award-winning song. Notice how Uncle Remus has been transformed into almost a cartoon himself. Of all the releases, this campaign has probably the most memorabilia items associated with it.
1973
In 1973, the film was paired up with The Aristocats as a double feature. Touting a new look which was in stark contrast to the film's previous release in 1956, it was almost as if the movie's identity had started anew, and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" was blazoned across the top, acting as the main trigger to people who were still humming the 1948 Academy Award-winning song. You can see how Uncle Remus has been transformed into almost a cartoon himself. Of all the releases, this campaign has probably the most memorabilia items associated with it.
October 8, 1980
Marked for the one hundredth anniversary of Joel Chandler Harris' classic Uncle Remus tales, Song of the South was released for its fourth time. The most "low-key" of all five releases, used an almost identical campaign identity to the film's previous release in 1972/1973. Notice that the Brer characters have been redrawn and appear a bit truer to Disney-style animation.
November 21, 1986
Song of the South's 40th anniversary warranted a full release once again. For the first time, this movie was actually billed as "Walt Disney's Classic". Song of the South had officially graduated to Classic Disney status. Disney could rely largely on the parents and grandparents of a new generation to be their exploitation, and it worked wonderfully: I was one of those fortunate children who was able to see this movie. For the first time since 1956, Uncle Remus appeared on the posters life-like once again, shown holding hands with the children.
After the 1986 release the movie has been on the unpublished "Banned" list of movies due to many factors. On is that some Rascist factions in the US have adopted "Zippidee Doo Dah" as a theme song and changed the words to be a very racist song. Along with this many blacks see the movie also in this light because it shows slavery in an upbeat way with song and dance and downplays the obvious Rascist views of the time period that were prevalent in the background of the movie. The obvious Yes Missy and Yes Sirs in the movie coupled with the subserviant acting overshadows the upbeat actions and intent of the movie. Watch it yourself because you will find it nowhere else due to it's unofficial status as BANNED. I have a couple of encodes of this movie but this is the only digital encode I could find and it was marketed in Japan as you will notice in a couple places oriental writing.
it has been publicized a couple of times since the 1986 release but it has never come to fruition die to quite obvious reasons. I, myself feel that we have lost a wonderful children's movie due to the feelings of some adults in our society. We can see now that with our President that there are many unsaid reasons for the blatent verbal attacks on our president. There have been many presidents with unpopular views and programs but none has produced the amount of sheer willful hate cloaked in political issues as this one has. I will now step down from my soapbox and let you enjoy a truly wonderful Movie. -------------------------------------- R
Replies
Thank you Rick, you are so right about this movie. I loved it as a child. ( I think I still am one) I think this is a great movie.............Elaine
Many thanks, Rick, for this classic family film and the interesting description. I saw the 1956 release in the theater when I was 12 and my brother who is 10 years older than I, saw the initial 1946 release in the movies!:-)
I also saw the 1956 release. It pains me to see something like this withheld from the children of today who need to se something like this and know that even though the adults of the time were responsible for slavery the children still played with each other and saw color as no barrier. Enjoy, I have a few different copies of it but the only digital I have had to come from Japan. as for the description, if you haven't guessed, I'm an aging hippie from the time of Peace and Love. -------------------------------- R