Why can't I find the old movie 'Song of the South'?

Question

Is it because of people whining about slavery again? Or has it gone out of print? I wanted to get this for my kids, it's a great old movie I enjoyed as a child.

Answer 1

I wonder what Catfish would say about that? I would love to find the old Amos N Andy TV show episodes...they were hilarious. Song of the South was a sweet movie. The world is so tiresome sometimes.

Answer 2

Now that we're all "politically correct", this movie is nearly impossible to buy ... unless you're willing to pay collector's prices. There are some on eBay, but they're not cheap. It was one of my favorites as a kid, too. Here's what I found on Wikipedia about the controversy ...

Although the film has been re-released several times (most recently in 1986 in the US), the Disney corporation has avoided making it available on home video tape in the United States or DVD anywhere because the frame story was deemed controversial by studio management. Film critic Roger Ebert has supported this position, claiming that most Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take films more literally than do adults. The film has been released on video in various European and Asian countries. In the U.S., only excerpts from the animated segments have ever appeared in Disney's DVDs and television shows, and the popular log-flume attraction Splash Mountain is based upon the same animated portions.

Despite rumors of a forthcoming DVD release, this exchange took place between a shareholder and Disney CEO Robert Iger on Friday, March 10, 2006 at a Disney Shareholder Meeting:

"My name is Howard Cromer. I live in Cypress, I'm a Disney shareholder. I'm actually delivering a message from my son, 10. He wants to know in recent years, in the midst of all your re-releases of your videos, why you haven't released Song of the South on your Disney Classics?" [Applause] "And, he wonders why. Frank Wells told me many years ago that it would be coming out. Well obviously Frank Wells isn't around anymore, so we still wonder why. And by the way, Mr. Iger, he thinks it was a very good choice when they made you CEO of Disney." [Applause]

Iger: "Thank you very much. You may change your mind when I answer your question, though. Um... we've discussed this a lot. We believe it's actually an opportunity from a financial perspective to put Song of the South out. I screened it fairly recently because I hadn't seen it since I was a child, and I have to tell you after I watched it, even considering the context that it was made, I had some concerns about it because of what it depicted. And thought it's quite possible that people wouldn't consider it in the context that it was made, and there were some... [long pause] depictions that I mentioned earlier in the film that I think would be bothersome to a lot of people. And so, owing to the sensitivity that exists in our culture, balancing it with the desire to, uh, maybe increase our earnings a bit, but never putting that in front of what we thought were our ethics and our integrity, we made the decision not to re-release it. Not a decision that is made forever, I imagine this is gonna continue to come up, but for now we simply don't have plans to bring it back because of the sensitivities that I mentioned. Sorry."

Thus, the Disney company will not be releasing the film in the U.S. in the near future. The Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Br'er Rabbit tricking Br'er Bear into the trap scenes are found in the 1950 special "One Hour in Wonderland" included on the 2004 two-disc release of Alice in Wonderland.

Answer 3

What Disney has been doing is re-releasing classics every 7-10yrs from the time they pull if off the shelves. People shouldn't whine about slavery. I never saw that movie as having anything to do with slavery. I agree it's a wonderful movie. I still have the soundtrack on vinyl.

Answer 4

I remember that movie, I use to watch that a lot when I was a little girl. That's not been one of the Disney movies that has been brought back out. I think it was a good movie, but some might not think so. I think there were stories of Brer Rabbit told by Uncle Remus in there. I think that movie portrayed african americans as still being slaves in the old south it made them out to be happy, singing etc, and you know slaves weren't happy. Perhaps it's the wrong idea to let your kids see it. Back in the 60's we were learning what we could do and couldn't do. I think by the early 1970's this movie wasn't being shown on tv. That and remember those old WWII Bugs Bunny cartoons with the Japanese bunnies? That went out quickly. I remember a few of those cartoons. Somethings will never be shown again. (Not in our lifetime anyway)

Answer 5

Disney consistently puts their movies in moratorium, which means that the movie isn't produced at all. They typically pull them out and rerelease them after 20-25 years or so, when the desire for the movie runs high (i.e., Bambi, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid) ... I'd check on the internet to see if you can find a copy. Good luck.

Answer 6

The depiction of Blacks has raised the ire of the NAACP, although it showed in Japan as late as the 70s.

There is a move by Disney to release the film to combat numerous bootleg copies floating about. Iger talked about a 60th anniversary edition (for 2006), but that has been currently shelved

Answer 7

I would imagine it's because Disney tries to pretend the movie doesn't exist... there was a lot of controversy concerning the portrayal of minorities in the film. You might try Ebay, but I'm sure you'll have a hard time finding the film at all.

Answer 8

Disney refuses to release it in the US, but it was available in Europe for a while. You can probably still find copies, usually only in PAL format, on eBay. It is a good film and should be made available to the public so that people of all races could enjoy it...

Answer 9

that was a good movie. I doubt you'd ever be able to find it here in the states. It was deemed racist. might wanna try a european web site. but the problem with that is that most disney cartoons are dubbed in their native languages overseas. you may be in luck since its a combo of animation and real people

Answer 10

It is out of print and Disney refuses to re-release it...probably because of the salvery issue.