So Dear To My Heart is one of Walt Disney's earliest Live Action films, combining live action and animation. The story focuses on Jeremiah and his black lamb Danny as he attempts to show Danny at the Pike County Fair.
So Dear To My Heart contains examples of:
- A Boy and His X: Jeremiah and Danny. A boy and his black lamb. Jeremiah saves the lamb after its mother rejects it, and spends the film fighting with his grandmother over his right to keep him.
- Covers Always Lie: The DVD cover pushes Bobby Driscoll to the back, despite him being the star of the film.
- Down on the Farm: Where most of the film takes place.
- Missing Mom: Jerry lives with his grandmother. No mention of what happened to his parents is ever made.
- The Owl-Knowing One: The wise old owl, who appears in the film's animated segments, serves as a mentor to Danny the Lamb.
- Overalls and Gingham: What Jerry wears.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: "Lavender Blue", a 17th-century folk song covered by singer and actor Burl Ives.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: One of the earliest films to use this trope.
- Seasonal Baggage: Shows the changing of the seasons in the title song.
- Stock Footage: Shots from Symphony No. 6's 4th movement appear during the animated storm sequence.
- Storybook Opening: Opens in this style with a scrapbook
. Presumably Jerimiah's.
