Song of the South Rumor

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Taken from www.newsfromme.com

Sounds pretty cool!

Floyd Norman has worked in animation as long as almost anyone I know. A few years ago, a book about Walt Disney was discussing how white his staff was back in the fifties, and it referred to a "lone Negro" who could be seen in the hallways. That was Floyd. He was working at Hanna-Barbera when the book came out and, instantly, all the other artists in his department began whipping out cartoons of Floyd in a cowboy suit and a mask, galloping down the Disney corridors as The Lone Negro. I'm still surprised Barbera didn't sell this as a series.
Over in his column at Jim Hill Media, Floyd writes about his experiences in the industry with regard to racial concerns. And he mentions the rumor that Disney is thinking of finally releasing Song of the South on DVD. I have also heard this rumor...and from someone who oughta know. The way it goes, the film will be issued in the "Walt Disney Treasures" series. Those are the ones that come in the little tin boxes, and which are available for a limited time. There would be extra material on the DVD, in which some prominent historians and black celebrities would attempt to put the material in historical context, and this could all happen in time for this coming Christmas. Or maybe not. The person who told me this says that there's still time for someone to chicken out and cancel or postpone. I suspect that if they go ahead, there will be a brief, two-day flurry of news stories because someone will smell some opportunity to get attention by being outraged. And then, since no groundswell of objection will follow, it will all be forgotten...and before long, folks will be wondering why such a fine movie was ever hard to see or own.

[Isaac]

A year ago I heard its going to be released as a 60th anniversary edition DVD in 2006.

Maybe it'll happen.

[MickeyLumbo]

i sure hope so. i still vividly remember seeing this wonderful film at the Brookhurst Theatre with my sister.

i would love to watch this again and again.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

The article at Jim Hill media is a pretty good read. Thanks for sharing!

[cirquelover]

Oh please let this be true!

I loved Song of the South as a kid and would love to be able to show my boy. He knows the songs and has seen a storybook, but that's not the same thing.

[Tito's Kitten]

I got a bootleg of on DVD from a friend of a friend for my brother for xmas. He was thrilled since he had not seen the film since it was in the theater. We had been trying to get the laserdisc from Japan (since we actually have a laserdisc player) but it was too expensive....

It would be nice to see it restored and released properly.

[Gemini Cricket]

Someone marvelous gave me a copy of this film. I enjoyed it. I can understand the opinion that this piece is racist, but Uncle Remus is the hero of the story. And back when it was made, African American actors were not used often for the lead character...

[Chernabog]

Since it appears under the JHM banner.... I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Disneyphile]

That reminds me - I need to set aside some time to hook up my DVD burner........

[blueerica]

Hmmm... Sounds interesting...

It would be nice to see it released officially in some way. I say there's no sense in hiding it, controversy or not. You cannot hide the past, especially if the patch up job is really shoddy, and you can get bootleg copies with relative ease. It would also be nice to have context stuff with it. I'm down with it!