Walt Disney's "Song Of The South" being remastered from the original negatives*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by cherbette, Oct 4, 2011.

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  1. sparkydog

    sparkydog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    All we got in grade school was crappy old Johnny Tremain. :laugh:
     
  2. aberyclark

    aberyclark Well-Known Member

    I think Disney will release the film eventually. There will be an entire sensitivity campaign surrounding it with cooperation from race relation leaders. It will be used in conjunction with an education effort. Most people alive today have never seen the film and would be quite surprised with all the controversy surrounding the film.
     
    mikefromlongisla likes this.
  3. My church ran many of the same movies. This practice continued at least into the late 1980s.
     
  4. Texastoyz

    Texastoyz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas, USA
    Last time I legally saw the film was back in 1986 in the theater. On the Disney Channel they'd have certain sections that that they would show as part of a cartoon or to just pad out time until the next program came on.
     
  5. Thurenity

    Thurenity Listening to some tunes

    It's been up since Nov 2011 - in Internet time that's almost a lifetime. ;)
     
  6. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident

    I barely remember it, saw it many many years ago, but dont even remember what the fuss was about. It was of its time, it was not that big a deal to me really.
     
  7. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    I saw it in my grade school around 1970-71. I also saw it at the drive-in sometime in the period 1972-74. I didn't think much of it, really.
     
  8. Amos and Andy was one of the finest comedy series ever shown on TV. The characters were wise (Andy), gullible (Amos), conniving (The Kingfish) and shrewish (Sapphire). In other words they were just like the characters in white comedy series. Lightnin' is probably the hardest character to accept.

    Amos and Andy was forced off the air in the 1960s. I suspect it has less chance of a re-release than Mike Love's Looking Back With Love album.
     
  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yep, when they did a 1978 TV special on the show, Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy, they specifically mentioned the "Steppin' Fetchit" stereotype of Lightnin' as being a very polarizing character. Wikipedia reports that the cable network Trio aired this special in 2004, so it's been kicking around for awhile.

    What I remember is that no LA station wanted to air it, and I think it wound up getting aired in San Diego and on some PBS stations in the middle of the night. I think we got it from KOCE in Huntington Beach. But it's clear that the racial issue is still a hot potato that sharply divides a lot of people. Hell, quite a few people condemned Quentin Tarentino's recent Django: Unchained, and the slave character is the central hero of the movie!
     
  10. coleman

    coleman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Is this it?

     
  11. Tom Perry

    Tom Perry Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    LOL
     
  12. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yep. Some interesting notes about Amos & Andy on Wikipedia, speculating that if a home video release ever happened, it'd have to go through Paramount (who owns many CBS-TV properties). Apparently, I was wrong earlier and the TV version of Amos & Andy is still copyrighted and owned by CBS as of 1998 -- but this was a relatively recent decision. I know for sure in the 1970s and 1980s the show was considered P.D. My guess is that Viacom used some underlying copyrights (script and music) to protect the show, but this still isn't getting it released.

    I would bet that there's quite a bit of stuff that Disney remasters with no definitive intent to release it soon. Some of it just may be a case of wanting to preserve their library for future generations, especially if the film or analog elements are rapidly deteriorating (which is definitely the case for nitrate films).
     
  13. goodiesguy

    goodiesguy Confide In Me

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Suprised it hasn't even been released in at least New Zealand. I mean, we as a country have never had all the slavery and racial issues, so their really wouldn't be any controversy except maybe a few of the PC doo-gooders complaining.

    I can understand how, in an american context, the film can be considered offensive and to some 'racist', but at least to me, with my kiwi eyes, it's nothing more than a classic film of it's time.
     
  14. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    It got released in Germany and Japan. New Zealand must not be livin' right! :laugh:....same as the Estados Unidos....
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    And my acquaintance, animation historian Jim Korkis just released a book on the controversy over Song of the South, which specifically deals with whether it could ever be released on home video in the U.S.:
    [​IMG]
    Nice review by noted film critic Leonard Maltin at this link.
     
  16. Marc, I firmly believe that when Disney CEO Bob Iger finally steps down from his position at the head of the corporate table, this movie will FINALLY be freed from the gates of "forbidden release" hell in both theatrical and home theater markets...they wouldn't have gone through the expense and effort of restoring and remastering in HD otherwise!!!
     
  17. Ricko

    Ricko Forum Resident

    Reading this (wonderful) thread makes me think this ties in with the long drawn-out non-release of "Raintree County" on DVD.

    No good reason for not putting it out as a major release in the US has ever been given.
     
  18. mikefromlongisla

    mikefromlongisla Active Member

    Location:
    metro ny area
    Wonder if the release is going to be censored, like Spielberg did ET for the guns.
     
  19. mikefromlongisla

    mikefromlongisla Active Member

    Location:
    metro ny area
    What does Eiger have to do with the release ?
     
  20. ridernyc

    ridernyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida, USA
    There are plenty of reasons they would transfer it and do work it that have nothing at all to do with it ever being released.

    I also fail to follow the logic here:

    The current CEO will never release it, but according to you he paid for it to be restored so the next CEO can release it???
     
  21. jupiter8

    jupiter8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    I wonder if they will make it only available as a download-I think they'd avoid a lot of controversy if there weren't physical copies floating around at Wal-Mart, etc.

    Just got back from Disney World-was amazed that Splash Mountain is based on "Song of the South" (minus Uncle Remus)-I would imagine that no one under 40 even knows what those characters are from. My sister-in-law said she heard a few years back they were supposed to redo it and tie it into "The Princess and the Frog" but it never happened when the movie didn't do as much as they hoped.
     
  22. ridernyc

    ridernyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida, USA
    I think they have a mountain of money and a vault full of stuff to make money with. I see no reason why they would ever release it.

    Hell just look what happened with Django last year.

    We live in the age when everyone has a voice and everyone uses that voice to bitch about everything.

    Thanks to the internet they wouldn't even be able to get away with sneaking it out in a foreign market anymore.
     
    PhantomStranger likes this.
  23. Hokeyboy

    Hokeyboy Nudnik of Dinobots

    I *love* Jim Korkis's books! This and Vault of Walt are must reads for Disney fans. :righton:

    As far as Song of the South is concerned, I don't find it racist or offensive in the slightest (not that I should have to "qualify" that statement, but my mother's family is mixed Portuguese/African, so I'm definitely "colored". It doesn't lend any more legitimacy to my opinion, but I say it to stave off the sometimes inevitable "but you're white, you're not one to judge" assumptions) . It's not history, it's not pretending to be, it's just entertainment.

    Unfortunately, it's also really boring entertainment. The animated segments are fantastic, but the movie itself is an unqualified snoozefest. :(
     
    Vidiot likes this.
  24. scottc1963

    scottc1963 Forum Resident

    I had heard that Euro Disney sold DVD's of this (PAL, of course).
     
  25. With a global Internet connecting every culture on Earth now, I doubt we'll see it released anymore in foreign territories by Disney.
     
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