Editing Song of the South (section)

=== Critical reception ===
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote= “As Uncle Remus, James Baskett is so skillful in registering contentment that even the people who believe in the virtues of slavery are going to be impressed and want to know his secret.”—Film critic [[Manny Farber]] in [[The New Republic]],  December 23, 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Farber |first1=Manny |title=Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. |date=2009 |publisher=The Library of America |location=London, New York |isbn=978-1-59853-050-6 |pages=824}}</ref>}}

[[Bosley Crowther]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'', "More and more, Walt Disney's craftsmen have been loading their feature films with so-called 'live action' in place of their animated whimsies of the past, and by just those proportions has the magic of these Disney films decreased", citing the ratio of live action to animation at two to one, concluding that is "approximately the ratio of its mediocrity to its charm".<ref name=BosleyCrowther>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/11/28/archives/the-screen-song-of-the-south-disney-film-combining-cartoons-and.html|title=The Screen; 'Song of the South,' Disney Film Combining Cartoons and Life, Opens at Palace—Abbott and Costello at Loew's Criterion|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 28, 1946|issue=32450|volume=96}}</ref> A review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' felt the film overall was "sometimes sentimental, slow and overlong". Nevertheless, the review felt the songs were "above-average, with one 'Zip-adee-do-da,' [''sic''] likely to be one of the season's favorites" and the animated sequences as "great stuff". They also praised Driscoll and Patten as "two of the most natural and appealing youngsters" and Baskett's performance was "as warming a portrait as has been seen in a long time".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/variety164-1946-11/page/n17/mode/1up |title=Film Reviews: Song of the South |page=18 |work=Variety |date=November 6, 1946 |access-date=August 25, 2022 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> A review in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine praised the animated sequences as "{{not a typo|topnotch}} Disney—and delightful", but cautioned that it was "bound to land its maker in hot water" because the character of Uncle Remus was "bound to enrage all educated Negroes and a number of damyankees".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,777351,00.html |magazine=Time |title=The New Pictures |date=November 18, 1946}}</ref>

''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' praised Driscoll and Baskett's performances, particularly the latter writing "his tender understanding of the child's problems gives the picture many appealing moments." Overall, the review felt the film had "a simple but sensitive and pathetic story, filled with deep human interest and fine, clean comedy situations, and it has an air of wholesomeness that comes as a pleasant relief from the general run of pictures nowadays."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/harrisonsreports28harr/page/174/mode/1up |title='Song of the South' with Bobby Driscoll, Ruth Warrick and James Baskett |work=Harrison's Reports |page=174 |date=November 2, 1946 |access-date=August 25, 2022 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Dorothy Masters of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' wrote: "Although plot is practically ignored, Disney has worked a lot of magic with brilliant animation, effective and wonderful music, besides having made the very best possible choice for Uncle Remus. James Baskett, who portrays the sagacious dean of plantation workers, has both the benign appearance and mellifluous voice to make him the perfect spinner-of-tales. It's largely through his philosophical whimsy that ''Song of the South'' is so delightfully charming."<ref>{{cite news |last=Masters |first=Dorothy |title=Disney Treat Screens Gospel of Uncle Remus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108317518/daily-news/ |work=New York Daily News |page=C16 |date=November 28, 1946 |access-date=August 25, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Columnist [[Hedda Hopper]] also praised Baskett's performance, and advocated for him to receive an [[Academy Award]].<ref name = "Frost1">{{cite journal |last=Frost |first=Frost |date= Winter 2008 |title= Hedda Hopper, Hollywood Gossip, and the Politics of Racial Representation in Film, 1946-1948 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20064255 |journal=The Journal of African American History |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=36–63 |doi=10.1086/JAAHv93n1p36 |jstor=20064255 |s2cid=142114722 |access-date=March 23, 2023}}</ref>

Criticism in the black press, however, was more politically divided. Richard B. Dier in ''The Afro-American'' was "thoroughly disgusted" by the film for being "as vicious a piece of propaganda for [[white supremacy]] as Hollywood ever produced." Herman Hill in ''The Pittsburgh Courier'' felt that ''Song of the South'' would "prove of inestimable goodwill in the furthering of interracial relations", and considered criticisms of the film to be "unadulterated hogwash symptomatic of the unfortunate racial neurosis that seems to be gripping so many of our humorless brethren these days."<ref name="Gevinson">{{cite book|last=Gevinson|first=Alan|title= Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960|year=1997|publisher=University of California Press|location=California|isbn=978-0-520-20964-0|page=956}}</ref>

Charles Solomon, reviewing the film in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' during its 1986 re-release, praised the film as "essentially a nostalgic valentine to a past that never existed, and within those limits, it offers a pleasant, family diversion for holiday afternoons when the children get restless."<ref>{{cite news|last=Solomon|first=Charles|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-21-ca-14935-story.html|title=Movie Review: Animation Sings in 'Song of the South'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 21, 1986|access-date=September 19, 2019}}</ref> The [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] has a rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average score of {{RT data|average}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/song_of_the_south |title=Song of the South (1946) |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=August 25, 2022}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/song-of-the-south |title=Song of the South Reviews |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[Red Ventures]] |access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref>