Keep track of the latest news items regarding Song of the South, this web site, new collectibles, and other related topics. Have news to report? Report it!
As we reported last month, Disney released a brand new video game, Kinect Disneyland Adventures for the Xbox 360, on November 15th. The game is essentially a virtual Disneyland with interactive meet-and-greet characters (including all three Brers) and “mini-games” for each main attraction in the park (including Splash Mountain). Details were initially scarce, but now that the game has been out for a few weeks, we’ve got YouTube clips of the experience! Without further ado…
Part 1: The Briar Patch. The adventure begins with Brer Rabbit (voiced by the talented Jess Harnell) leading the player through a briar patch, collecting coins in the process. Meanwhile, a new instrumental rendition of “How Do You Do?” is playing in the background. Once the player has reached the end of the Briar Patch, they arrive at Brer Fox’s house. Brer Rabbit advises the player to hop into a nearby log floating in the river, while he delivers a “present” to Brer Fox and Brer Bear (a beehive full of angry bees).
Part 2: The Log Flume. Brer Rabbit hops in with the player, and off they go on their adventure, leaving a fuming Brer Fox and Brer Bear at the dock. This portion of the game has the player steering the log and trying to avoid obstacles while collecting coins. Meanwhile, Brer Fox and Brer Bear are scheming to get back at Brer Rabbit and hurling objects at them along the river bank. An instrumental rendition of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” plays in the background.
Part 3: The Barrel Run. Brer Rabbit and the player find themselves hurtling downwards into a water-filled cavern. They take some nearby floating barrels and continue on, dodging more obstacles including falling stalactites and swooping vultures, and of course collecting coins. In this segment, an instrumental version of “Everybody Has A Laughing Place” is playing.
Note: The YouTube clips shown above do not depict the full gameplay; namely, we don’t see what leads up to the waterfall, and we don’t see the game’s conclusion. You know one thing’s for certain though: Brer Rabbit triumphs! (Sorry, Brer Fox. Better luck next time.)
Meet and Greet Characters: Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit are also found outside Splash Mountain, in Critter Country. The following video clip shows the locations of Brer Bear and Brer Fox, and the entrance to Splash Mountain. Brer Rabbit is apparently an unlockable meet-and-greet character, requiring the player to first help Brer Fox lure him out of hiding.
So, there you have it! This is the Brers’ single biggest animated appearance since their cameos on the House of Mouse (2001-2003), and their first ever computer animated appearance. I was very pleasantly surprised to see them so prominently featured in the game, and I applaud Disney for not trying to further bury this maligned movie. Thanks to Nicholas Fleming for the news report!
"Uncle Walt" reads the Uncle Remus stories to Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten.
Today marks Song of the South’s 65th anniversary. Song of the South premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia on November 12, 1946. This year we haven’t seen any special collectibles commemorating the anniversary like we did for Song of the South’s 60th, 55th, and 50th anniversaries, but that’s not to say Disney won’t pull something out of their hat. Also of note:
Since Song of the South was added to Facebook in August, there are 408 people who like the movie, and we’re sure there are more. Please spread the word!
The Song of the South Petition has gathered 33,756 signatures so far. Let Disney know you want this movie to be released!
SongoftheSouth.net turns 11 today! This web site was officially launched on November 12, 2000. A lot has changed since then, but one thing remains the same: we’re still waiting for Disney to release this movie!
In case you haven’t heard, Disney fans are abuzz with a brand new Disney video game in town. Kinect Disneyland Adventures is a truly virtual Disneyland for the Xbox 360, and I must say the graphics are quite impressive. There are many interactive meet-and-greet characters throughout the park, and all of the park’s main attractions are interactive “mini games”.
If you’re wondering, “Does that include Splash Mountain?” I am happy to report yes! Even Brer Bear and Brer Fox appear as animated meet-and-greet characters near Critter Country. On Song of the South’s Facebook page, Philip Marc shared with us a link to a YouTube video clip that briefly shows Brer Bear and Brer Fox, and the façade to Splash Mountain.
As the game isn’t scheduled for release until November 15th, details are still a little scarce, and I haven’t been able to find any screenshots or video clips of the actual Splash Mountain attraction. But, if the demos of other attractions are any indication, expect to see at least a few “Brer” cameos from the ride! More will be posted as soon as we get more info. It should be noted that this is the first time any characters from Walt Disney’s Song of the South have made it into a video game (that I’m aware of).
Over at CartoonBrew.com, editor Jerry Beck has posted on his blog “‘Song of the South’ can be yours – for $1,499“, in reference to an auction on eBay for a 16mm IB Technicolor print of the film. The opening bid was $1,499. (Update: It ended up selling for $2,750 with 8 bids.)
But perhaps even more interesting is a post left in the comments section of the article, in which reader Egbert Souse states that “Disney is remastering Song of the South from the original negatives in 4K resolution. It’s not in the immediate pipeline for a Snow White or Bambi level restoration, but they’ll have complete digital files by the end of next year.”
Update (10/1/2011): As confirmation for the above comment that Disney is working on preserving Song of the South, Merlin Jones has pointed me to the following article over at the Home Theater Forum, which discusses Disney’s restoration of Dumbo and the efforts they are currently putting forth to preserve their entire library of volatile nitrate film negatives (which Disney used for all films prior to 1955):
“Since 2004 Disney has undertaken a huge scanning project with the Library of Congress. They ship large chunks of their library across the country in refrigerated trucks to MPI at Warner Brothers and make 4K digital scans, verifying that every frame was scanned successfully. They aren’t stopping with digital. Due to the volatility of the nitrate stock and that fact that regardless of what they try to do they can’t prevent the eventual decay, Joe Jiuliano and his team are making new black and white successive exposure negatives designed to preserve the films for another 100 years. The project is almost complete and when they are finished they will have re-preserved their entire nitrate library: 16,500,000 frames.
“And it’s not just animation. This project has been used to get 4K scans and new prints to preserve live action classics like Song of the South (no plans to release) and just this year Parent Trap, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Old Yeller, The Absent-Minded Professor and Pollyanna (I encouraged them to start releasing these live action classics to Blu-ray).”
This is just a small excerpt of what is an excellent article, including restoration photos and interviews with Disney’s Sarah Duran-Singer (Senior V.P. of Post Production), Dave Bossert (Creative Director and Artistic Supervisor of the Restoration and Preservation Team), and Joe Jiuliano (Director of Film and Video Services, and Technical Advisor for the Restoration Committee.) Check it out!
At the request of many readers, I have finally created a Facebook page for Song of the South! Facebook has millions of members, and has proven to be one of the most powerful social networking tools currently available on the Internet.
So, why add Song of the South to Facebook? This site’s primary objective is to spread the word and educate the public about this film. The powers-that-be at Disney have clearly demonstrated that they have no intention to release this movie to the American public, and would prefer if we’d just forget this movie ever existed. Whether you love this movie or hate it, censorship is not the solution. I strongly believe that this movie should be released so that we can make our own decisions.
Therefore, this new Facebook page, as well as Song of the South.net, will be updated hand-in-hand as one more avenue to reach the public about this movie. If you have a Facebook account, please click the “Like” button to start this ball rolling! Thank you.
Salon Entertainment columnist Andrew O’Hehir has written an article on the Top 10 Greatest Missing Movies, one of which is none other than Walt Disney’s Song of the South. O’Hehir covers a wide range of films, from those that are “well and truly missing” to the ones that “can’t be seen because those who own them simply don’t want you to see them” (guess which movie he’s talking about.) Here is the list of films, in order:
Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
The Mountain Eagle (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)
The Great Gatsby (Herbert Brenon, 1926)
The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
Song of the South (Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, 1946)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)
Let It Be (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
Catch My Soul (Patrick McGoohan, 1974)
The Day the Clown Cried (Jerry Lewis, 1972)
O’Hehir describes Song of the South thusly: “This Disney mixture of live action, animation and highly uncomfortable race relations definitely exists, and if you’ve got $150 or so burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy it on VHS tape. Sooner or later, you’d have to think the corporate suits in Mouseland will find the right context for a collector’s edition DVD: Essays by Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West? Earnest panel discussions on the Jim Crow era and the depiction of African-Americans in Hollywood? I’ve never seen “Song of the South” in its entirety and I’m sure it’s got many cringe-worthy moments, but can anyone possibly deny its cultural and historical importance?”
(Indeed, which is why we’re still trying to get Song of the South to be added to the United States Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Click here for more information on how you can easily nominate the movie yourself.)
I found O’Hehir’s article to be very interesting, as most of these films I had never heard of before now.
Announced in May, a new Walt Disney Classics Collection figurine from Walt Disney’s Song of the South is joining the Summer 2011 releases. The new WDCC figurine features Brer Bear and is entitled “A Hankering for Hare.” This piece is designed to complement the Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit set released in 2010, entitled “Cooking Up a Plan” and “Last Laugh”, respectively. The three pieces form a scene from the Laughing Place animated sequence of Song of the South (you can watch the YouTube clip here).
“Galumphing and a bit bumbling, Brer Bear is Brer Fox’s bosom buddy, so when the crafty fox is ready to roast Brer Rabbit for dinner, the burly big guy is more than ready to dig in.”
The figurine measures 7.5″ high, and is plussed with a pewter fork and knife. It is sculpted by Patrick Romandy-Simmons, and has a suggested retail price of $185.00. It is currently available for pre-order from WDCC authorized dealers and will be released this summer. Special thanks to Brian Slatky for the news report!
MousePlanet staff writer Jim Corkis (a.k.a. Wade Sampson) has written another excellent article covering Song of the South, this time stemming from the recent shareholder meeting, in which Disney CEO Robert Iger once again shot down any hope for a release of this movie.
“Obviously, the Disney stockholders were not asked whether they would like to see the film released.” My thoughts exactly, Jim. Iger has proven by his remarks that he and some of the Disney executives are making a personal decision to withhold this movie from the public. What does this have to say about the power of the shareholders? Clearly from hearing the applause this question elicits every year, there are many other shareholders that would like to see this movie released as well.
Disney’s annual shareholder meeting was held this year on March 23rd in Salt Lake City, Utah. Once again, Disney CEO Robert Iger has dismissed the possibility of releasing Song of the South on DVD. Since 2006, shareholders have annually raised the question at every shareholder meeting. In 2006 and 2007, Iger assured shareholders that they were taking another look at the film due to the “numerous requests” they received. By 2008, however, his tone began to change, and by 2010, he was calling the movie “antiquated” and “fairly offensive”. And now, for 2011′s response—shareholder Matthew Hansen was able to squeeze in the meeting’s final Q&A question:
Hansen: My name is Matthew Hansen; I’m a shareholder here locally. This year is a large anniversary for one of Disney’s classic films. Disney restoration team artistic supervisor Dave Bossert recently said, ‘There’s been a lot of internal discussion about it, and at some point we’re going to do something about it. I don’t know when, but we will. We want people to see it because we realize it’s a big piece of company history and we want to do it the right way.’ With this year being the 65th anniversary of Song of the South, I was wondering when we might see that. [Applause]
Iger: [laughs] We almost got through the meeting! I thought you were going to say it’s the 60th anniversary of Peter Pan, I was kind of hoping for that. I said last year at our shareholder’s meeting that I had watched Song of the South again and, even though we’ve considered from time to time bringing it back, I didn’t think it was the right thing for the company to do. It was made in a different time. Admittedly you could use that as context, but I just felt that there are elements to the film, while it was a relatively good film, that wouldn’t necessarily sit right or feel right to a number of people today. And, just felt that it wouldn’t be in the best interest of our shareholders to bring it back, even though there would be some financial gain. Sometimes you make sacrifices on the financial side to do what you believe is right and that’s an example of that.
Hansen: Would it be possible to have, kind of how they have the Disney exclusive videos that aren’t available in stores?
Iger: I just don’t feel that it’s right for us to use company resources to make it available, whether it’s wide or whether it’s narrow… narrowly available. It’s a strong belief that I have— consulted with other top executives of the company. They all agreed, and I think, just remember it as it was, and don’t expect to see it again for… at least for awhile, if ever.
In 1956, Walt Disney held a nationwide contest, sponsored by 3M (the makers of Scotch tape). Contestants had to answer the following question in 25 words or less: “I like Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape because…” Out of all the entries, 25 lucky families would win a trip to the newly-opened Disneyland! (…or New York, but would you really want to choose that over Disneyland?!) At that same time, Song of the South was being re-released to theaters. And who better to promote this contest than our lovable trio, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear?
One of the 8 million tape dispensers made for the contest.
The Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, was one of those 25 lucky families to win. They even created a homemade documentary of the whole experience! The film has proven to be so important from a historical perspective that it was added to the National Film Registry in 2008 (yes, the very same registry we’re trying to get Song of the South into!)
So sit back and enjoy life (and Disneyland) as it was back in 1956. I certainly enjoyed watching this, and if you’re a Disney fan I think you will too. Be sure to keep an eye out for the original Scotch tape display with Brer Rabbit! Special thanks goes out to Steve for letting me know about this great piece of Disney history.
