Although the film has been re-released several times (most recently in 1986), the Disney corporation has avoided making it directly available on home video or DVD in the United States because the frame story was deemed controversial by studio management, despite Uncle Remus being the hero of the story. Film critic Roger Ebert, who normally disdains any attempt to keep films from any audience, has supported the non-release position, claiming that most Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take films more literally than do adults. However, he favors allowing film students to have access to the film. In the U.S., only excerpts from the animated segments have ever appeared in Disney's DVDs (such as the 2004 two-disc release of Alice in Wonderland (1951), television shows, and the popular log-flume attraction Splash Mountain is based upon the same animated portions).
Despite rumors of a forthcoming DVD release, Disney CEO Robert Iger stated on March 10, 2006 at a Disney Shareholder Meeting that it had been decided that the company would not re-release it for the time being. At the annual shareholders meeting in March 2007, Iger announced that the company was reconsidering the decision, and have decided to look into the possibility of releasing the film. In May 2007, it was again reported that the Disney company has chosen not to release the film. However, rumors to the contrary continue to surface.
When the film was first released, the NAACP acknowledged "the remarkable artistic merit" of the film, but decried the supposed "impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship" (even though the film was set after the American Civil War). Today, the organization has no position on the movie.
In 2007, Movies.com listed the film as the fifth most controversial film of all time.
One of the first really shocking moments I experienced as a young comic reader was due to Alan Moore. As an annual birthday gift, an older relative would provide me with subscriptions to an even number of DC and Marvel titles....
My youth was filled with many a day sitting on my lazy ass after school in front of my parents' (what at the time seemed HUGE) 25 in. color Admiral television set, watching the local PBS affiliate. Everyday, like clockwork, everything dropped at 5 p.m......because it was at that hour that I made the effort to spend some quality time with Dr.Who.
God Bless merchandising tie-ins.....in what other atmosphere would you find the creation of a novelty spoken word record performed by Burgess Meredith...in character as the Batman villain the Penguin?
