Category Archives: Song of the South

News related to Walt Disney’s Song of the South.

Disney.com’s Search Engine Features Bootleg Song of the South Sites

Disney and the MPAA have put a lot of effort into suppressing web sites that offer Song of the South on video and DVD. Unbeknownst to them, people have been able to find these sources through Disney.com’s very own search engine!

In what I can only describe as the most deliciously ironic thing I’ve ever seen, a reader has pointed out that when one searches for “Song of the South” on Disney.com, web sites offering bootleg (illegal) copies of the movie prominently fill the “sponsored links” area of the search results page.

Apparently, Disney.com’s search engine uses sponsored links from Google.com. Google’s sponsored links have long been a popular choice for sites selling illegal copies of Song of the South. Now, I know for a fact that Disney Worldwide Services visits my web site on a fairly regular basis, (Hi guys!), so it will be interesting to see how quickly action is taken on this.

(Update: To date, no action has been taken.)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Nods to Song of the South

It’s no surprise that Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film set in the 1940s that combines live action with animation, would give a nod to Song of the South. The film, in fact, contains five Song of the South character cameos, what I believe to be the most cameos from any single film represented within the movie.

Back in March, a new Vista Series DVD of Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released. Among the image galleries of the DVD’s special features, it has been noted that the “Production” section includes a publicity shot from Song of the South: the famous sunset scene that graces the covers of several memorabilia items and, of course, this web site! A screenshot is available at ign.com. Thanks to Curtis for the report.

Song of the South Featured in Film Threat’s Bootleg Files Column

Author Phil Hall of Film Threat has chosen Song of the South for their first Bootleg Files column, a new column that discusses movies that are not commercially available. Among the topics covered in this article, Phil discusses why the movie is not available, and voices his opinions on what he feels is overall “simply not a great film.” He does feel, however, that ultimately Song of the South deserves to be seen. While I definitely think more of Walt’s first attempt at a live-action musical drama, Phil’s opinions are every bit as valid and make for an interesting and recommended read:

http://www.filmthreat.com/Features.asp?Id=774

Disney Archivist Robert Tieman on Song of the South

This past Sunday, Russell Davies interviewed Disney Archivist Robert Tieman on BBC Radio 2. Among the several topics that was brought up, Song of the South was among them. Several interesting points were covered in the discussion, but the most notable portion was near the end:

Tieman: …one of the things that is possibly a hopeful sign for the future, coming up I think next year, I think in 2004, will be a DVD set of Disney’s World War II cartoons, which for years and years and years, were off the market. And, it was finally decided that if they were presented in the right historical context that they could be reissued, and the company has hired Leonard Maltin, who is a film comentator, to do a historical overview of the time that these cartoons were made, and what they were used for and so forth, and so I think once again with the proper context that these things can be done successfully.

As noted here before, Leonard Maltin fully supports Song of the South‘s release. Disney’s World War II cartoons finally being released with an historical overview by Maltin is a very positive step in the right direction. With a little bit of luck, this same treatment may be the key to finally releasing Song of the South as well.

Although the original program is no longer available on the BBC Radio 2 website, I have transcribed the relevant portion of the interview. Thanks to Chris Vierig for the report!

Song of the South in Top 20 Adjusted Animated Films of All Time

According to Animated-Movies.com, “if ticket price inflation was taken into account when ranking top movies (which it pretty much never is even though it would make more sense), Finding Nemo wouldn’t even crack into the top 10. Success is a very relative concept, and the list below helps put things in perspective!”

The list shows Walt Disney’s Song of the South at position #14 with $288.6 million, beating out Peter Pan, Shrek, Monsters Inc., both Toy Story films, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Also, on BoxOfficeReport.com, Song of the South ranks #80 in the $200m Adjusted Movies list, outranking films like Lawrence of Arabia, The Wizard of Oz, Psycho, Fellowship of the Ring, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Seems a little odd for such a “racist” film, doesn’t it? Thanks to Joey Sartin for reporting this.

Song of the South Article in Chicago Tribune

Yesterday saw an article released in the Chicago Tribune entitled “‘South’ Still Silent” and was written by Donald Liebenson, Special to the Tribune. This article is basically a re-edited version of Donald’s earlier article written for the L.A. Times on May 7 of this year entitled “Should dated films see the light of day?”

This new article is available to read here. (Free registration required.)

Song of the South Reference in Finding Nemo

Well, I just got back from watching Finding Nemo, and as always, Pixar did a fantastic job. About three-quarters of the way through the movie, though, I did a double-take: in the Sydney harbor, behind the boat named “The Surly Mermaid” was another boat with the partially visible name “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” a reference to Song of the South‘s Academy Award-winning song. I checked out IMDB.com’s Trivia page on Finding Nemo for confirmation, and sure enough, I wasn’t the only one who spotted it.

Interestingly, the partially obstructed name on the boat is reminiscent of Splash Mountain’s sole reference to “Song of the South” during the showboat finale, which can be seen on the marquee behind the fox to the right of the paddlewheel.

Song of the South Release Rumor – Announcement This Month?

As with all release rumors, remember to take this with a grain of salt. According to an individual who recently visited Disneyland, one of the cast members in a shop on Main Street divulged that Song of the South would be released “in the not too distant future” and that an announcement should be made this month:

“I just got back hours ago from a mom’s gift to herself weekend and while I was digging around the watch shop on Main Street for cool pictures, a woman checking out in front of me asked for anything and everything SONG OF THE SOUTH related. The man told her to try the Splash Mountain Briar Patch type shop. She said she had and not much other than beanie babies etc. He told her not to spread this around, of which his voice proceeded to get much louder so a large group of 20 or so heard but Disney finally gave their consent to release SOS on DVD in the not too distant future and an announcement should be made in the upcoming month of July. I know not to trust but my DVD player and I are hoping for extra pixie dust in the next few weeks. He said they have to finish negotiating with NAACP type organizations to decide whether to delete or add explanations, you know, to be politically correct. I hope I haven’t stirred up a bees nest here but I was so excited, I thought I’d burst.”

Either this cast member is making up tall tales to appease the Song of the South-seeking public, or there may actually be some truth to this rumor. As with all release rumors, only time will tell. Thanks to Tina of the Yahoo Song of the South Enthusiasts Group for passing this on.

Also, back in May, reader Jim Tobias reported that a man in the DVD section of a MediaPlay store told him that Song of the South would be released sometime “around Christmas time.” So far I haven’t heard any more on either of these rumors.

“In A Stew Over Brer Rabbit” Article in Scotland’s The Herald

Brian Pendreigh of Scotland’s The Herald has also taken the stand to report on Song of the South—its unavailability in the U.K. and U.S., its supporters, and the controversy surrounding other books and movies dealing with race that Song of the South has reportedly re-awoken.

Brian had contacted me a couple weeks back to interview me for this article. Apparently, the story stirred so much interest at The Herald that the article was expanded to about double its original size, filling up a whole broadsheet features page, with several pictures and a panel.

The article is located in the Comments area of the Feature section. A big thanks goes out to Brian for taking the time to create this great article and present this movie’s issues to our friends in Scotland!

This article has been archived.

L.A. Times Song of the South Article Printed Today

Donald Liebenson’s superb article “Should ‘dated’ films see the light of today?” has been printed in today’s L.A. Times. Donald spent a great deal of time on this article, and it shows. Among those he interviewed were Ruth Warrick, Leonard Maltin, Clarence Page, Diane Disney Miller, and myself (all of whom support the film’s release). He mentions both my web site and James McKimson’s UncleRemusPages.com and his petition.

Located in the Calendar section of the paper, the printed article also includes two publicity shots from the film, one large live action photo with James Baskett, Glenn Leedy, and Bobby Driscoll, and the other photo animated, showing Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

I want to personally thank Mr. Liebenson for his hard work on this article; he has done a great service both to supporters and to the movie itself. Thank you!

This article is no longer on the L.A. Times web site, but has been archived.