Hacker Cinema
So Dear to My Heart
1948 · Film · 82 min
Directed by Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske
The tale of Jeremiah Kincaid and his quest to raise his 'champion' lamb, Danny. Jeremiah's dream of showing Danny at the Pike County Fair must overcome the obstinate objections of his loving, yet strict, grandmother Granny. Jeremiah's confidant, Uncle Hiram, is the boy's steady ally.
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1 comment on Hacker News
Be sure to watch So Dear to My Heart if you get a chance. Made two years later, it's kind of a sister film to Song of the South: similar animation + live action techniques, some of the same actors, and a bit (but not so much) of the same racial controversy.
There are certainly things to be criticized about both movies, but I think much of the criticism came from people who never saw them.
Walter Francis White's NAACP statement (quoted in the Wikipedia article linked above) is a good example. White didn't see the movie himself, but commented on it based on reports from staff members. As you mentioned, he mistakenly assumed that the film was set during the era of slavery.
The thing that sticks in my mind about Song of the South is that Uncle Remus is the hero of the movie.
To me, the real tragedy of this film - which portrayed people of different races as friends and companions - was that James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus and voiced a couple of the animated characters, couldn't attend the premiere festivities in Atlanta because it was a segregated city. But how could Disney be to blame for that?
And right now I'm regretting having given away my old laserdiscs of Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart. :-(