1946 repressed classic
Rating: 15/20
Plot: Somewhere in the happy-go-lucky postbellum South, Johnny's family travels to Grandma's plantation. Johnny's upset when his dad takes off, however, and has trouble adapting. Just as he's planning on running away, a storyteller named Uncle Remus tells him some stories about animals that teach him lessons about life. Meanwhile, there's a cat, a pair of mean brothers, and a girl. And a bull!
I'm trying to guess why people consider this movie offensive. Is it that former slaves--this isn't, as some people who have never seen the film think, about slaves but during a post-Civil War time where plantations in Georgia would more than likely not look as healthy as they look here--are shown as so content with their lives? Is it the "Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder" line? I mean, why does the bird have to be blue? I don't see color; I just see the bird. Or--and this is definitely the most offensive part for me--is it that the movie makes white people seem so boring? Seriously, rich white people are as dull as hell! No, here's what is most offensive--a suit with a lace collar that poor Bobby Driscoll is forced to wear in this. Wowza.
It's definitely not, or shouldn't be, the animated folk tales with Br'er Rabbit and his friends and antagonists. And no, "tar baby" is not offensive in context, and these stories are important as folklore and as a part of American history and African American culture. A prologue says they're "rich in simple truths, forever fresh and new" and Remus later claims they're "stories that don't do no harm to nobody, and if they ain't done no good, how come they last so long." I always like what Disney does with folklore--the tall tales, mythology, even the Washington Irving story which isn't folklore at all but feels like an urban legend--and the Br'er characters are as lovable and unique as anything they created during this time. This was the first Disney movie featuring live actors, and a lot of times, you get the flesh 'n' blood characters walking around an animated world or in a real world with animated characters. The first "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" (one of Disney's best tunes, ya know) is magical with Remus walking in a suddenly animated world. It's like a splash of cold water there, and I also really like a scene where he has a conversation with a frog and starts fishing. James Baskett, who did win an Academy Award (first for a black actor) even though he wasn't able to attend premiere festivities because of segregation laws, is fantastic in this. Indianapolis can claim him and should do it proudly just because of the way he says the word bo-dacious in this movie. Sadly, he died at 44, two years after this was released. That made me really sad, but reading about the child protagonist of this depressed the hell out of me. Geez, Bobby Driscoll's story is a tragic one. I don't think I'll be able to watch Peter Pan or Treasure Island the same way again, and Disney doesn't even want me to watch this again. Driscoll's a bit child-actor-in-the-1940s since that's something that's impossible to escape from, but he and Glenn Leedy--the kid who played his little black friend named Toby and who didn't appear in another other movies--are both pretty good. I can't say the same for any of the Faver siblings. Georgie Nokes might win my Tootie award this year for his delivery of "Where'd you get those clothes at?" and the only thing for old-fashioned than the way the blacks are portrayed in this movie is the silly thumbs-in-ears-finger-waggin' taunting motion that Nokes does in this. Gene Holland, the other Favers brother is almost as bad himself, and Luana Patten completes the bad acting Faver trifecta with her performance.
This movie is dated in more ways than just the one that makes it offensive to a lot of people. But seriously, if you want to gripe about how life as an ex-slave is painted so idyllically, what exactly do you expect? Do you really want a children's movie to show Uncle Remus, after he was telling stories and saying he forgot the time and later was revealed to be lying to be beaten severely on screen? Driscoll's story tends to drag a little, and things get a little silly near the end when he's chased and pummeled by a bull (unfortunately off-screen although a shot of a prostrate Driscoll with the bull standing about fifteen feet away with a "What? What did I do?" expression on his face is kind of funny). Still, this is a good film and shouldn't be nearly as embarrassing as the Disney people seem to think it is. It's worth seeing for the animation sequences and Baskett's performance at least.
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