Review of So Dear to My Heart (1948) by Mike M — 16 Apr 2008

It might, just might, be possible to read this little-seen Disney heartwarmer as an apologia for the perceived racial stereotyping of "Song of the South", the company's previous hybrid of of live-action and animation: somewhere within this nostalgic American pastoral lies a (slight) fable about overcoming social inequalities.

.. Its cornfed innocence may be lost on viewers who've come to regard family films as secondary to the novel they're based on and the toys based on them in turn, and Driscoll's "aw shucks" to "gee whizz" range may have been an acquired taste even at the time of release.

But the messages are put over with charm and sincerity, and may, just may, have registered with those who grew up to lead the civil rights movement two decades later.