MY, OH MY, WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY...

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SONG OF THE SOUTH
starring: James Baskett, Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten
1946
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MY, OH MY, WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY... IT WILL BE WHEN THE DISNEY COMPANY GETS ITS HEAD OUT OF THE INKWELL AND RE-RELEASES SONG OF THE SOUTH. That day may be a long way off, however, because the shrieking unthinking have muted this SONG! And here in purified, sanitized, synthesized, homogenized, and anesthetized contemporary America, we must be protected from anything that might accidentally induce genuine contemplation and intelligent discussion. Heaven forbid this country should start thinking for Itself!
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SONG OF THE SOUTH is important for a couple of reasons: It was the first time live action was mixed with animation throughout an entire full-length motion picture. It also represented a high-water mark of artistic achievement in the context of storytelling and moralizing. SONG OF THE SOUTH is probably nothing less than the finest example of American folk art! But America - land of the free and home of the brave - isn't allowed to see it!
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I was very fortunate to find a copy of SONG OF THE SOUTH (in English with Japanese subtitles) over a decade ago, and have been watching it regularly since; it remains one of my Top 25 favorite films. I wish there were some way I could make a copy for everyone who desires one: I'd surely do it!
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The overall story is a little too sketchy, but JAMES BASKETT (Uncle Remus & the voice of Br'er Fox) gives one of the most engaging performances in motion picture history. His character is the true hero of the story. Only he and Miss Doshy (Lucile Watson) have a clue.
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So, where's the controversy? Well, 'SONG' takes place on a post-Civil War Southern plantation where the Blacks are working as sharecroppers. For the most part, everyone is happy, even singing when they work. Perhaps some feel that this whitewashes the slavery issue. And of course the Black characters speak in a grammatically butchered Southern dialect. That's historically accurate! After all, they were unjustly denied an education. But the language is far more tame than I have encountered in other old movies featuring Black characters, and in fact, no more outside of mainstream English than current ebonics. And that's the extent of SONG's controversy! OOOoooh! OOOoooh!
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It's the same small group of maroons who would protest SONG's release that have tried for years to get Twain's 'HUCKLEBERRY FINN' banned, never realizing that Chapter XVI of that book (in which the Divine spark in Finn's heart wrestles with the callousness of his society-indoctrinated conscience and wins) constitutes the single greatest anti-slavery statement ever recorded in a novel! SONG's humanity easily outweighs any of the marginal stereotyping it commits in conveying its time period.
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[Interestingly, Joel Chandler Harris (creator of the Uncle Remus stories) once wrote to Mark Twain and said of 'HUCKLEBERRY FINN', "It is the most original contribution that has yet been made to American literature." Later, he publicly wrote, "There is not in our fictive literature a more wholesome book than 'Huckleberry Finn.' It is history, it is romance, it is life. Here... we see people growing and living; we laugh at their humor, share their griefs; and... we are taught the lesson of honesty, justice and mercy."]
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The handcrafted animation (no computer graphics or live action tracing) is WONDERFUL! There is one sequence in which Uncle Remus, fishing with Br'er Frog, casts his animated line directly at the viewer; it disappears above the screen, and moments later the cork splashes into the stream and bobs in the viewer's face while the rest of the line softly descends into view, landing in the water. It's the most beautiful and imaginative 12-seconds of animation ever put on film.
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If the Disney Company realized how much money it would get by making SONG OF THE SOUTH available, it would accede to our wishes because MONEY is now what drives Disney. We must continue to dog Disney until it STOPS TREATING US LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN and re-releases SONG OF THE SOUTH.
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WE WANT OUR CARTOONS!
CARTOONS NOW!
CARTOONS NOW!
CARTOONS NOW!
WAAAAaaaaa.......
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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IT AIN’T EASY BEIN’ GREEN, RICH, AND POMPOUS

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THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
A Cosgrove Hall Production
1983
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It was my dear departed Ma who introduced me to the magical children’s book The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame. This was shortly after I graduated from high school, when I would periodically read chapters from the Winnie-The-Pooh series to her. Well, I fell in love with Grahame’s book (Mr. Toad is one of the greatest characters in English literature!), and about 1983 or ’84, I upgraded my little paperback copy to a really beautiful hardcover copy published by Grosset & Dunlap, which includes wonderful colorful illustrations. (That copy still sits proudly in a bookcase right next to The World Of Pooh by A. A. Milne.)

In 1989, my Ma purchased a VHS copy of this Mark Hall and Brian Cosgrove “stop-motion” animated production of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS for my niece and nephew. Weeeeell… When I saw it, I instantly fell in love with it and obtained my own copy. (I would have stolen the copy from my Ma’s grandchildren, but that sort of thing usually earns one some nasty karma, and I seem to have all I can stand as it is, thank you very much!)

This movie is probably even better than the book, and I’ve already told you how the book is esteemed by me. From the first viewing, this became my all-time favorite stop-motion movie, and that has never changed. Oh sure, I love Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit -- particularly THE WRONG TROUSERS, with its punky penguin, Feathers McGraw. (I seriously considered using Feathers McGraw as my Amazon.com pen name when I wrote my first review for that website.) But, you know, nothing’s ever gonna catch MR. TOAD in my book. I mean, he drives awfully fast in that little motorcar!

In 1990, I took my VHS tape over to my then-girlfriend’s apartment, thinking that she might like to see it. (“The Countess” was a good ol’ gal with an appreciation for the finer things in life, like the classic Tex Avery and Tom And Jerry cartoons.) Well, I played The Wind In The Willows for her once and unwittingly created a monster. She asked me to bring it a second time, which I did. And thereafter, every time I showed up at her apartment, the first words out of her mouth were, “Did you bring Mr. Toad?” And when I answered, “No”, she’d immediately begin to pout. It was as if she wasn’t happy to see me anymore unless I was accompanied by that impertinent, little green amphibian. The first forty times, I thought she was just joking (I’m a bit dense), but after that it finally occurred to me that she had given her heart to Toad, and I truly was in the doghouse without him.

So, I finally wised up and bought The Countess her own copy of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, so she could watch it any time she desired, and I thereby erased her perpetual pout. But I’ll tell ya the truth: That damned frog, I love the bloke, even if he did steal my girl!

This 78 minute stop-motion movie is filled with marvelous characters and memorable lines: Of course, there’s first and foremost “the famous Mr. Toad” (Don’t think he’s famous? Just ask him!) with his beloved horse-drawn caravan, which he disdains as a “common canary-colored cart” when he encounters his first motorcar. And then his motorcar mania which ultimately wreaks so much havoc, causing him to lose the family’s venerable Toad Hall. There’s sensible Ratty, sensitive Mole, the wascally Weasels, and old, stoic 'n' stout Mr. Badger. (Man! You just don’t mess with Badger! The Weasels found that out the HARD way. He was “Thumpin’ an’ thumpin’ an’ thumpin’” ‘em!)

And are there ever some funny lines that The Countess and I used for many years afterwards! (“Out of my way!”; “The chap’s a damn frog!”; "No. Take it away.") I love the scene where the young field mouse is trying to inform Mole about something and Mole admonishes him about his pronunciation, telling him not to drop his “H”s. And the little mouse obeys by saying, “It’s Toad, sir -– he’s got hisself harrested!” And there’s that moment when Ratty and Mole wander nearby Mole’s long-forgotten hole in the ground (Mole End) and he becomes unexpectedly homesick. Sniffling, he says in a low voice, “I smelt it and I wanted it.” The Countess and I got lots and lots of mileage out of that line. We used it for Italian restaurants, saloons, compact discs, movies, trips to Disneyland, and on and on. But the day she pointed to an engagement ring and said, “I smelt it and I wanted it”, I was forced to break her smeller.

But seriously, while there is lots of action in THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, portions of it are a tad slow for the movie’s intended target age. There are a number of idyllic scenes (e.g., the “Up Tails All” duck sequence) that are likely to lose the interest of your youngsters (you know how they’re captivated only by the “Whizbang-Clangdang” stuff), and the thick English accents (that delight us) are sometimes going to be a bit tough for the kiddies to follow. But you know, to heck with them! Get this children’s movie for yourself and wait for your kids to “grow up” enough to fully appreciate it. But men, don’t let your wives see it or yer gonna lose ‘em to that suave ladies’... uhm... Toad.

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Listen, I have to run now. I just got a phone call from the police department and I gotta go bail out my brother, Napoleon. It seems he’s got hisself harrested hagain!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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