So Dear to My Heart

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.