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Amphibians in Movies |
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Song of the South (1946) |
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Spoiler Alert !
Some of these pictures and descriptions may give away plot details that you might not want to know before watching the film.
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There are few scenes with real and animated frogs in this movie. It's the story of Uncle Remus (James Baskett), a kindly old black man during the post civil war reconstruction period in rural southern U.S. Remus tells folk stories about the trickster character known as Br'er Rabbit and his adversaries Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. Disney has understandably buried this movie because of its perceived racism and questionable depictions of black people, which is unfortunate because James Baskett gives such a great performance as Uncle Remus that he was given an honorary Oscar, and he also sings the Academy Award-winning song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." The movie is interesting to watch it as a historical record, and as an early use of live action with animation. Disney doesn't want it to be seen, but you should be able to stream it for free on the Internet Archive.
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The first frog scene happens early in the movie to provide some comedy. Toby (Glen Leedy) a pre-teen boy, brings a frog in a box to show Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) a boy his same age. (He tells Johnny that it's a Bullfrog, but it's actually a toad.) Toby puts the frog in a basin of water to make it sing, but it jumps straight up out of the water. Johnny asks if he got the frog from the mill pond, and Toby asks how he knew that. Johnny says that his father told him he used to catch lots of frogs there. They put the frog in the water again and it jumps up again.
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When Johnny's mother comes into the room Johnny hides the frog behind his back then gives it to Toby. Toby leaves the room and then loses the frog. He catches it but it gets away. Finally he is able to secure the frog under his hat.
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Johnny's mother makes him get dressed up so he tells Toby that he can't go to the mill pond to release the frog, but Toby tells him they can't leave the frog at the house where it's likely to get stomped on or run over or lost. He takes it out of his hat and tells Johnny that the frog is missing his family. Johnny says that taking the frog back to the pond is not frog hunting, so he can do it, and they walk to the pond to release it.
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When Uncle Remus tells his Br'er Rabbit stories, we see illustrated with animation. In one story we see a live-action Remus walking to a pond with a fishing pole where he and an animated Br'er Rabbit talk with an animated frog that is also fishing with a pole. The frog and Remus fish and smoke pipes together. At the very end of the movie, we hear the song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" again, but this time it is sung by the animated frog along with other animals and children. |
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