So Dear to My Heart

deltaandthebannermen

Member
Original Poster
A Disney Tale: A young boy, Jeremiah Kincaid, adopts a black sheep and determines to take him to the county fair despite the wishes of his grandmother.

Disney Hero: Jeremy Kincaid is the hero of our story. A determined and caring young boy he adopts the unwanted black sheep soon after birth and cares for it as it grows. The county fair beckons and he manages to raise the money needed to take the trip (by hunting down a 'bee tree' and selling the resulting honey to the local grocery store). At the fair he is given a special award for his sheep, Danny.

Jeremiah is played by Bobby Driscoll who has featured in this marathon before as Bobby in Song of the South. Here he is playing a not dissimilar character (and is accompanied by Luana Patten as Tildy, Jeremiah's cousin, who had played Ginny in Song of the South).

Disney Heroine: Luana Patten's Tildy has a lot less to do in So Dear to My Heart than her character in Song of the South. She mainly just trots along behind Jeremiah enjoying his company and that of their grandmother and uncle. She's kind, sweet and funny and shares, to an extent, Jeremiah's love of adventure and desire to take Danny the Sheep to the County Fair.

Disney Villain: So Dear to My Heart doesn't really have a villain. The closest is Granny Kincaid who, for some of the film, opposes Jeremiah's desire to go to the County Fair. She is devoutly religious and often reminds Jeremiah of the need to follow the Lord's ways. However, as the film progresses she softens, eventually helping Jeremiah prepare Danny for the fair and joining in with singing and dancing one evening with Uncle Hiram.

Disney Sidekicks: Uncle Hiram is the fourth main character in the live action sequences of the film and performs a similar role to Uncle Remus from Song of the South. He does little more in the film than sing songs as he transports people around in his cart, talk to the children or slyly try to convince Granny to let Jeremiah go to the fair.

Disney Creatures:
There are two principal 'creatures' in So Dear to My Heart: Danny the Sheep and Owl. Danny appears in both the live-action sections (which make up the majority of the film) and the animated sequences which punctuate the action occasionally. Owl only appears in these animated sections dishing out sage advice to Danny the Sheep (and by proxy, Jeremiah) about working with what you've been given and sticking to it, even when it seems hard. To do so, Owl invokes a variety of historical figures such as the biblical David, Christopher Columbus and Robert the Bruce. There is another creature in the Robert the Bruce scenes - an anthropomorphised spider wearing a kilt and tam o'shanter hat (who only seems to have 6 legs!)

Owl wears a mortarboard and seems to be some sort of teacher as he also has blackboard. He also appears on cards belonging to Jeremiah, each with a different proverb or saying on it.

Danny is a cute, black sheep who, in the animated sequences, remains a relatively new-born lamb (although he grows up in the live-action sequences quite swiftly). He doesn't speak or sing.

Danny and Owl, and the other animated characters, are all based in a scrapbook belonging to Jeremiah. It is the scrapbook which, effectively, comes to life in these animated sequences but there is minimal interaction between the live action characters and the animated ones.

Disney Magic: Aside from the scrapbook coming to life for the animated sequences, there is very little magic on display in So Dear to My Heart. Unlike in Song of the South, the live action characters don't enter the animated world and the animated characters only briefly enter the live-action world in one sequence.

Disney Land: So Dear to My Heart is set in Indiana, USA in 1903. The turn of the century settings and costumes are well presented and the majority of the film is sunshine and inviting. There is one section set during a terrible storm when Danny goes missing. Jeremiah and Tildy go exploring the countryside to find a bee tree and this leads them through thick, overgrown forest and a treacherous bog.

Disney Songs: This film, like Song of the South, is packed with songs but what surprises me is that they were mostly unknown to me beforehand. With Song of the South having a signature song in Zip-pa-dee-doo-dah, So Dear to My Heart doesn't have anything which has entered the Disney canon as high profile as that song. The closest it has is Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) sung by Uncle Hiram and this is the only song from this film I can find included on Disney compilations (and there's certainly no film soundtrack I can track down). Lavender Blue is a gentle, English folk song not original to the film. Alongside it are other folk songs sung by Uncle Hiram including 'The Honey Song' which is based on Old Dan Tucker and Billy Boy (sung by Uncle Hiram and Granny Kincaid). Uncle Hiram also makes up some short verses - Jerry's Lamb and the Black Lamb which he sings are he goes about his business and the song 'Ho-dee-i, Ho-dee-ay, At the County Fair.

Owl is given the original songs for this film - It's Whatcha Do With Whatcha Got and Stick-to-it-ivity. Both of these motivational songs were ones I had never heard before but both are fun with a bouncy 'Zip-pa-de-doo-dah' vibe about them. They are not only sung by Owl, but also have sections sung by Christopher Columbus and Robert the Bruce. I rather like them and it's a shame they don't have as high a profile as their cousin, Zip-pa-de-doo-dah.

There is also the title song, So Dear to My Heart. This is a rather dull song used at the start which sounds horribly like some of the more irritating tunes included in the package features like Make Mine Music and Melody Time. I'm not surprised it hasn't stuck with Disney fans as a classic.

Disney Finale: I wasn't particularly looking forward to watching So Dear to My Heart (and indeed, I nearly forgot to watch it at all, having watched the next film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad first). However, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a very simple story but it has a huge amount of heart and I found myself really rooting for Jeremiah at the County Fair and shared Granny Kincaid's slightly tearful pride. The performances are all good and it has some catchy (and sadly unknown) songs. This is a film which has surprised and pleased me.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
"So Dear to My Heart" has often been cited as Walt Disney's personal favorite of his films, and probably the one that most reminded him of this childhood in Marceline, MO. Truly a gem. One of the reasons that I regret the change that happened to The Disney Channel now about 15 years ago. The "old" Disney channel kept gems like this before us in reruns. Today it is much more important to them to continually re-run insipid "tween" sitcoms with forced laughter and one-liners.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
"So Dear to My Heart" has often been cited as Walt Disney's personal favorite of his films, and probably the one that most reminded him of this childhood in Marceline, MO. Truly a gem. One of the reasons that I regret the change that happened to The Disney Channel now about 15 years ago. The "old" Disney channel kept gems like this before us in reruns. Today it is much more important to them to continually re-run insipid "tween" sitcoms with forced laughter and one-liners.
That is because no one would watch this old movie. It's extremely outdated and I don't think kids today could relate to it.

It would be best if TCM or AMC showed it during one of their Disney marathons.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
That is because no one would watch this old movie. It's extremely outdated and I don't think kids today could relate to it.

It would be best if TCM or AMC showed it during one of their Disney marathons.

I disagree. Not so much about this particular movie as I do about keeping the classics before us. Part of the calculus of what "kids today could relate to" is a function of what is put before them on a daily basis. Variety is a good thing, including classics. I watched modern shows when I was growing up, but I was also exposed to old shows and movies. The good ones may have had dated sets (intentional or not) but also gave me points of reference (and reverence or disdain as the case may be) that let me decide.

Just like we should provide balanced meals to our children, even if they love brownies but hate broccoli, we should do the same with entertainment. Not everything, mind you, is a classic. And we don't need a constant diet of classics. But we do benefit from keeping the true gems, especially in the case of Disney, a company that has made generations of loyal fans by creating its own history and culture, before general public, especially on a channel named for its "brand."

We do children a disservice when we expect them only to relate to the newest things. (Otherwise, why keep Mickey Mouse around? And should we expect them to recognize Mickey in a sorcerer hat? That movie was released in 1940 and featured classical music -- something that is not even played on the radio.)

So, while I understand marketing and other influences to "keep things current," I also saw the wisdom of older children's programming or, better yet, "family" programming, which did not talk down to them, and it assumed that there could be a mixture of classics thrown in for good measure. Yes, times change, and some things should probably fall by the wayside, but also some classics should survive and be featured every now and then.

As for this particular movie, I would like to see it featured maybe once or twice a year on The Disney Channel among maybe some other classics. I liked the night-time Vault Disney idea, but some classics might also work in other time slots (like Saturday afternoon). I am not married to a particular schedule or format, just the idea. It has served generations of Disney fans well for creating loyalty, whether on TV or in the old re-releases they used to do of the biggest animated films -- which kept the characters alive (and "relatable") for generations, even as new ones were created.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Just because it is considered a classic doesn't mean it's good. Look at all the "classic" books that your teachers made you read in high school. How many of them kept your interest and were really fun to read? There is a serious boring factor in this movie. The pace of the movie is extremely slow. Almost none of the songs are ever heard at Disney. Just like Song of the South, if you remove the animation, it's not a very entertaining movie.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
Just because it is considered a classic doesn't mean it's good. Look at all the "classic" books that your teachers made you read in high school. How many of them kept your interest and were really fun to read? There is a serious boring factor in this movie. The pace of the movie is extremely slow. Almost none of the songs are ever heard at Disney. Just like Song of the South, if you remove the animation, it's not a very entertaining movie.

I think some of your reaction may also take into consideration the pace we have come to expect in current movies. Good or bad, I think we have conditioned everyone, especially children, to expect movie plots to move at racing speed.

This was not always the case, and I believe we have lost something in character development sometimes. Granted, a fast pace is often useful and entertaining, but I think there is also something to be said for a slower pace and character development. This was often the case with older films. Even Psycho allows a full hour or so of character development, allowing us to get to know and care about the characters (some positive, some negative), before the tension really builds toward the iconic shower scene.

So, for good or ill, I think that some of this can be both a "sign of the times" and a function of your exposure to and feeling of older films.
 

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