True-Life Adventures

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True-Life Adventures is a series of fourteen full length and short subject documentary films produced by Walt Disney Productions roughly between the years 1948 and 1960.[1] The series won eight Academy Awards for the studio including three Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature awards for The Living Desert, The Vanishing Prairie and White Wilderness, and five Best Two Reel Live Action Short awards for Seal Island, In Beaver Valley, Nature's Half Acre, Water Birds, and Bear Country.

It inspired a daily panel comic strip that was distributed from 1955 to 1973 and drawn by George Wheeler.[2] Several of the films were adapted in comic book format as one shots in the Dell Comics Four Color series.

The films were among the earliest production experience for Roy E. Disney. This film series was the launching pad for Disney's new distributor, Buena Vista International. TV episodes are from Disney's anthology TV series.

On April 21, 2008, Disney established a new nature film label called Disneynature. After Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment unit on March 20, 2019, Disneynature is a sister studio of National Geographic Films, which was owned by 21CF.

Various natural scientists have studied the contents of these films and found that various sequences in them were staged and fabricated, such as the lemmings' mass suicide in White Wilderness.[3]

Films[]

# film name type date educational film
1 Seal Island Two-reel short December 21, 1948
2 In Beaver Valley (a.k.a. Beaver Valley) July 19, 1950
3 Nature's Half Acre July 28, 1951
4 The Olympic Elk February 13, 1952
5 Water Birds June 26, 1952
6 Bear Country February 5, 1953
7 Prowlers of the Everglades July 23, 1953
8 The Living Desert Feature November 10, 1953 The following educational films were excerpted from The Living Desert:[4]
  • Animals at Home in the Desert (1974)
  • Predators of the Desert (1974)
  • What Is a Desert? (1974)
9 The Vanishing Prairie August 17, 1954 The following educational films were excerpted from The Vanishing Prairie:[5]
  • The Buffalo – Majestic Symbol of the Plains (1962)
  • Small Animals of the Plains (1962)
  • Pioneer Trails, Indian Lore and Bird Life of the Plains (1962)
  • Large Animals that Once Roamed the Plains (1962)
10 The African Lion September 14, 1955 The following educational films were excerpted from The African Lion:[5]
  • The African Lion and His Realm (1968)
  • Birds, Baboons, and Other Animals – Their Struggle for Survival (1968)
  • Elephants and Hippos in Africa (1968)
11 Secrets of Life November 6, 1956 The following educational films were excerpted from Secrets of Life:[5]
  • Secrets of the Ant and Insect World (1960)
  • Secrets of the Bee World (1960)
  • Secrets of the Plant World (1960)
  • Secrets of the Underwater World (1960)
12 Perri August 28, 1957
13 White Wilderness August 12, 1958 The following educational films were excerpted from White Wilderness:[5]
  • The Arctic Region and Its Polar Bears (1964)
  • Large Animals of the Arctic (1964)
  • The Lemmings and Arctic Bird Life (1964)
14 Jungle Cat August 10, 1960 The following educational films were excerpted from Jungle Cat:[4]
  • Animals of the South American Jungle (1974)
  • Jungle Cat of the Amazon (1974)

Educational shorts[]

The following shorts were edited out of the other shorts/films/episodes for educational purposes - either a fragment was exported out of a longer film or two or more sequences were edited together from more than two or more different films to form a "new" film. Thus they are not included on the Legacy DVDs.

Films made up of stock footage from two or more Disney nature films and thus not listed with respective original film above:[4][5]

  • The Weasel Family (1968)
  • The Wild Dog Family - The Coyote (1968)
  • The Wild Cat Family - The Cougar (1968)
  • The Deer Family (1968)
  • Of Horses and Men (1968) with animated inserts.[citation needed]
  • The Bear Family (1970)
  • The Beasts of Burden Family (1970)
  • Teeth are for Chewing (1971) with animated inserts.[citation needed]
  • A Day in Nature's Community (1975)

Documentary film[]

Main article: The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures

On October 8, 1975, Disney theatrically released The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures, a full-length motion picture documentary derived from 13 of the acclaimed True-Life Adventures series written and directed by James Algar, executive produced by Ron Miller and narrated by Winston Hibler.

Home media[]

VHS releases[]

Australian & New Zealand releases[]

  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 1): The Living Desert (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 2): The Vanishing Prairie (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 3): Jungle Cat (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 4): Secrets of Life (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 5): The African Lion (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 6): White Wilderness (September 22, 1995)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 7): Seal Island (March 15, 1996)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 8): Bear Country (March 15, 1996)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 9): Water Birds (March 15, 1996)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 10): The Olympic Elk (March 15, 1996)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 11): Beaver Valley (March 15, 1996)
  • Disney's True-Life Adventures (Volume 12): Nature's Half Acre (March 15, 1996)

DVD release[]

All of the True-Life Adventures have been released on 4 double DVD sets as part of the Walt Disney Legacy Collection, which launched December 5, 2006.

Volume 1: Wonders of the World[]

DISC ONE

DISC TWO

  • 1. "Mysteries of the Deep"
  • 2. "Wonders of the Water Worlds"
  • 3. "The Crisler Story"

Bonus Features

  • 4. "Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Birds"
  • 5. "Tribute to James Algar"
  • 6. "Filmmakers' Journal"
  • 7. "Collectors' Corner"
  • 8. "Original Theatrical Trailers"

Volume 2: Lands of Exploration[]

DISC ONE

DISC TWO

  • 1. "Islands of the Sea"
  • 2. "Nature's Strangest Creatures"
  • 3. "Prairie"
  • 4. Behind the True Life Cameras

Bonus Features

  • 5. Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Desert Insects
  • 6. Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Snakes
  • 7. Filmmakers' Journal
  • 8. Collectors' Corner
  • 9. Trailers & Promo

Volume 3: Creatures of the Wild[]

DISC ONE

DISC TWO

Bonus Features

  • 4. Tribute to the Milottes
  • 5. Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Elephants
  • 6. Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Cheetah Medical Exam
  • 7. Filmmakers' Journal
  • 8. Collectors' Corner
  • 9. Trailers & Promo

Volume 4: Nature's Mysteries[]

DISC ONE

DISC TWO

  • 1. Nature's Half Acre
  • 2. "Searching for Nature's Mysteries"
  • 3. "Adventure in Wildwood Heart'

Bonus Features

  • 4. Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Butterflies
  • 5. Tribute to Winston Hibler
  • 6. Filmmakers' Journal
  • 7. Collectors' Corner
  • 8. Original Theatrical Trailers

See also[]

Documentaries[]

References[]

  1. ^ Moran, Christian (2017). True-Life Adventures: A History of Walt Disney's Nature Documentaries. Theme Park Press. ISBN 978-1683900726.
  2. ^ Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 396. ISBN 9780472117567.
  3. ^ DeMello, Margo (September 11, 2015). "Between Entertainment and Education: the Disneynature's Chimpanzee". The Dodo (website). Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "- Disney Shorts: 1970ies". Disneyfilmguide.page.tl. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "- Disney Shorts: 1960ies". Disneyfilmguide.page.tl. Retrieved June 1, 2019.

External links[]

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