Of special interest is the 20th Academy Awards, which was held at the Shrine Civic Auditorium on Saturday, March 20, 1948, honoring movies released in 1947. (Even though Song of the South premiered November 12, 1946, it was counted among the 1947 films.)

Song of the South won two Academy Awards: James Baskett received an Oscar ”for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world, in Walt Disney’s Song of the South.” Also, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah won the award for Best Music (Song).

What makes this page special is a film clip from the UCLA Film & Television Archive, featuring a news reel from the 1948 Academy Awards. Here we get to see Mr. Baskett receive his Oscar, narrated in the first person by “Oscar” himself:

The second special award is to be made by Ms. Ingrid Bergman who presents me to Mr. James Baskett, so that my gleaming image may be a reminder that he gave us all a glowing and nostalgic happiness with his splendid Uncle Remus in the “Song of the South”.

The film clip can be viewed here:
http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/20th.html

Sadly, James Baskett passed away just four months later on July 9th at age 44, but his legacy will live on as being the first African American man to receive an Academy Award. (Incidentally, the first African American woman was Hattie McDaniel, who played Aunt Tempy in Song of the South). A special thanks to Bradley West for the news report!

According to the French Disney fan site Les Grands Classiques, Disney France has obtained exclusive permission from The Walt Disney Company to release Song of the South on DVD. They, in turn, reference this site. Without going into too much detail (Google Translate can only do so much), the site claims that it will be released exclusively in France beginning April 16, 2012 by international retail chain Fnac, and features a foreword by French actor Omar Sy.

So, is this a legitimate rumor or an early April Fool’s Day present? Well, as always, time will tell. I think you know which one I’m betting on.

Now, about that special Blu-Ray release of Song of the South featuring a commentary by Strom Thurmond… you can read that one over at campusbasement.com.

Thanks to Bobby and Marc for the news reports!

Update (4/15/2012): Oliver J. H. Kosinski of Lesgrandsclassiques.fr has confirmed that this was indeed an early April Fool’s:

“I confirm to you that the ‘French exclusive DVD of Song of the south’ does not exist. This joke was done in collaboration between 10 French fan’s sites, under the original idea of ChroniqueDisney.fr as you can see here: http://chroniquedisney.fr/grenier/billetHS7.htm#fnac

Outside of my fan made DVD’s, there is therefore no official French DVD.”

Bumper art by Andrew Dickman. Follow Nostalgia Chick on Twitter and Facebook. Special thanks to Kyle for the news report and to Lindsay for the excellent job. You have a new fan!

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!

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).

Kinect Disneyland Adventures is currently available for preorder on Amazon.com. The game requires a Microsoft Xbox 360 with the Kinect add-on.

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!

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/314907/disney-s-restoration-of-dumbo-and-efforts-to-preserve-their-film-library

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.

http://www.facebook.com/songofthesouth

1. Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
2. The Mountain Eagle (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)
3. The Great Gatsby (Herbert Brenon, 1926)
4. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
5. Song of the South (Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, 1946)
6. Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)
7. Let It Be (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1970)
8. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
9. Catch My Soul (Patrick McGoohan, 1974)
10. 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.

Click here to read the full article on Salon.com. Thank you to D.Z. for the news report!

“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!