SO DEAR TO MY HEART
US, 1948, 84 minutes, Colour.
Burl Ives, Beulah Bondi, Harry Carey, Luana Patten, Bobby Driscoll.
Directed by Harold Schuster.
So Dear To My Heart is an attractive Disney film, full of joy and sentiment. It was Burl Ives' first film role. It has an attractive performance by Beulah Bondi as Grandma. Regular Disney youngsters Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten are very good in the central roles of the children.
The film is in the vein of rustic Americana, popular in the '40s. It has a pleasing blend of animation and real-life drama. Amusing songs are inserted in the animation and into the live action quite skilfully and humorously.
The film is a piece of Americana - nostalgia about the old American way of life and values. It avoids sentimentality - and offers warm Disney entertainment.
1. An engaging film? Enjoyable? For the whole family? A film of the 140s? Perennial values?
2. The blend of live action and animation? The blend, the interconnections? An atmosphere of reality - yet life seen warmly through children's eyes? Pleasing fantasy?
3. The atmosphere of 1903, the country town, the farm, the fair? Trains, racehorses? Costumes and decor? Customs? Square-dancing? The songs: 'So Dear to My Heart' with its sentiment for the opening? 'Dan Patch', 'Stick-To-It-ivityl? 'It's Watcha Do With Watcha Got' - and the humour about proverbs? County fair? Burl Ives' rendition of 'Lavender Blue, Dilly Dilly'?
4. The animation: the scrapbook, the owl and his wise sayings, Dan the Lamb, the illustrations of the various proverbs - and the excursions into history with Robert Bruce, Columbus?
5. A portrait of children, especially Jeremiah? Bobby Driscoll's style as Jeremiah? His scrapbook and its coming alive, proverbs, Dan Patch, the lamb? His being looked after by his grandmother? Work on the farm, going to see Dan Patch at the train, the black lamb And his caring for it, the promise of the fair, going to Tildy to get the honey, the help of Uncle Hiram? Friendship with Tildy the loss of the lamb and their searching? The square dance scene at home? The loss of the lamb and Jeremiah's dissatisfaction with God? His grandmother's response? His promise not to go to the fair if the lamb was returned? Grandmother altering the promise? Family pride? The fair, missing out on the blue ribbon, the special award? The celebration 1Arthe town? The older man's voiceover? a nostalgic and romantic memoir?
6. Grandmother - her work, the ploughing, the lambs, bringing up Jeremiah? The friendship with Hiram - and the songs together - 'Lavender Blue', 'Billy Boy,? The happy atmosphere? Her religious beliefs? Her disappointment with Jeremiah and his lack of trust in God? Solving the problem about going to the fair? Her pride in his ribbon? A sympathetic grandmother?
7. Tildy and her friendship with Jeremiah, sharing his joy and activities?
8. Burl Ives' genial presence as Hiram? Character, helping Jeremiah, friendship with Grandmother? Songs and dance?
9. The portrait of the townspeople, the shopkeepers, the people at the fair, the judge's speech about Jeremiah and his lamb?
10. Americana - happy nostalgia, struggles and hardships, growing up?
