#41 Song of the South

February 8, 2021
Song of the South (1946) ** 1/2
DVD
Disney other

“You can’t run away from trouble. There ain’t no place that far.”

I had been putting off watching this movie because I knew that it would be little difficult, but it ended up being more difficult than I thought it was going to be, partially because a lot of it is really good.

Now, this does not discount how problematic some of it is, but it’s less problematic than you might think in a lot of ways. First of all, the performance of James Baskett as Uncle Remus is terrific, absolutely undeniably terrific. This was his only major movie role, as he was mostly a stage and radio actor. He has a few small roles in a few small films, but nothing like this. Apparently, he auditioned for the voice of a butterfly, and Walt Disney liked him so much he cast him in the lead (and the voice of Br’er Fox and the butterfly, too!), and they became very close friends. He even won a special Academy award for playing Uncle Remus, and therefore was the first Black man to win an Academy Award.

He should’ve been a big star after this, but unfortunately, he had a heart attack after the film opened, and then died a couple of years later of complications due to diabetes. He never got the chance to appear in more movies after this, therefore the fact that this film is very difficult to see means that his performance, and even he himself, is mostly forgotten.

Also in the film was the great Hattie McDaniels, playing another mammy, but she is also wonderful to watch and has a solo number. Yes, it’s a great shame that she was relegated to these types of roles, but she was a terrific performer and deserves to be seen.

I understand absolutely the problems some people have with this movie, and there are parts that are pretty cringey and stereotypical, but unlike in Dumbo or in a lot of other voice work at the time, all of the cartoon animals were played by black actors, there is no vocal blackface.

It’s not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, however, suppressing a film due to how problematic it is racially without also celebrating the performances by the black actors involved is a shame. I think it’s possible for this film to be appreciated in context without it being hooray for racism.