True-Life Adventures
Best Of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures series is a collection of fourteen full length and short subject documentary films produced by Walt Disney Productions roughly between the years 1948 and 1960. The series won eight Academy Awards for the studio including three Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature awards for Vanishing Prairie, Living Desert 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 1971. 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. Also this film series was the launching pad for Disney's new distributor, Buena Vista International. TV episodes are from Disney's anthology TV series.
In 2007, Disney established a new nature film label called Disneynature.
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) | Two-reel short | July 19, 1950 | |
| 3 | Nature's Half Acre | Two-reel short | July 28, 1951 | |
| 4 | The Olympic Elk | Two-reel short | February 13, 1952 | |
| 5 | Water Birds | Two-reel short | June 26, 1952 | |
| 6 | Bear Country | Two-reel Short | February 5, 1953 | |
| 7 | Prowlers of the Everglades | Two-reel Short | July 23, 1953 | |
| 8 | The Living Desert | Feature | 10 November 1953 | Following educational films were excerpted from The Living Desert:[1]
|
| 9 | The Vanishing Prairie | Feature | August 17, 1954 | Following educational films were excerpted from The Vanishing Prairie:[2]
|
| 11 | Secrets of Life | Feature | November 6, 1956 | Following educational films were excerpted from Secrets of Life:[2]
|
| 10 | The African Lion | Feature | September 14, 1955 | Following educational films were excerpted from The African Lion:[2]
|
| 12 | Perri | Feature | August 28, 1957 | |
| 13 | White Wilderness | Feature | 12 August 1958 | Following educational films were excerpted from White Wilderness:[2]
|
| 14 | Jungle Cat | Feature | August 10, 1960 | Following educational films were excerpted from Jungle Cat:[1]
|
Educational shorts
Roy Disney came into the operation in the late 50's & was ultimately responsible for three very similar productions which stand alone for not utilizing the paint brush motif at the top & for not producing posters & press kits like the earlier productions. The titles are: Nature's Strangest Creatures, Mysteries of the Deep, and Island of the sea.
The following short were edited out of the other shorts/films/episodes for educational purpose - 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 "new" film. Thus they are not included on the Legacy DVDs. Films made up of stock footage two or more Disney nature films and thus not listed with respective original film above:[1][2]
- 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)
- 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)
DVD release
All of the True-Life Adventures have been released on DVD over four discs as part of the Walt Disney Legacy Collection which launched December 5, 2006.
Volume 1: Wonders of the World
DISC ONE
- 1. Introduction by Roy Disney
- 2. White Wilderness
- 3. Water Birds
- 4. Beaver Valley
- 5. Prowlers of the Everglades
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
- 1. Introduction by Roy Disney
- 2. The Living Desert
- 3. The Vanishing Prairie
- 4. Seal Island
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
- 1. Introduction by Roy Disney
- 2. The African Lion
- 3. Jungle Cat
- 4. Bear Country
DISC TWO
- 1. Olympic Elk
- 2. "Cameras in Africa"
- 3. "The Yellowstone Story"
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
- 1. Introduction by Roy Disney
- 2. Secrets of Life
- 3. Perri
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
- ^ a b c Disney Shorts: 1970ies
- ^ a b c d e Disney Shorts: 1960ies