The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures | |
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Directed by | James Algar |
Written by | James Algar Winston Hibler Ted Sears |
Produced by | Ben Sharpsteen James Algar |
Narrated by | Winston Hibler |
Cinematography | Alfred G. Milotte Elma Milotte N. Paul Kenworthy Robert H. Crandall Hugh A. Wilmar James R. Simon Herb and Lois Crisler Tom McHugh Jack C. Couffer |
Edited by | Norman Palmer Lloyd L. Richardson Anthony Gerard Gregg McLaughlin Gordon Brenner |
Music by | Paul Smith Oliver Wallace Buddy Baker |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures is an American compilation documentary film produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by James Algar and released by Buena Vista Distribution on October 8, 1975. The film is composed of highlights from the Academy Award winning True-Life Adventures series of 13 feature length and short subject nature documentary films produced between 1948 and 1960.
The film opens with a salute to Walt Disney, a pioneer of nature films and animal lover, followed by a compilation of excerpted segments from the True-Life Adventures film series showcasing animals of all kinds depicted in dramatic, fascinating moments of habitats from the American prairie to the North American desert, to Africa, the Amazon jungle and to the Arctic. [1]
The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures was released only on VHS in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. To date, it has never been released on any physical format in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film is available as a digital download on Amazon Video, [2] YouTube, [3] Disney Movies Anywhere [4] and iTunes. [5]
The Living Desert is a 1953 American nature documentary film that shows the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the Southwestern United States. The film was written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, Jack Moffitt (uncredited) and Ted Sears. It was directed by Algar, with Hibler as the narrator and was filmed in Tucson, Arizona. The film won the 1953 Oscar for Best Documentary.
The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, The Wonderful World of Disney, was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program moved among the Big Three television networks in its first four decades, but has aired on ABC since 1997 and Disney+ from 2020 to 2023.
White Wilderness is a 1958 nature documentary film produced by Walt Disney Productions as part of its True-Life Adventure series. It is noted for its propagation of the myth of lemming mass suicide.
The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Based very loosely on the "Mowgli" stories from Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book of the same name, it is the final animated feature film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry. Featuring the voices of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, and Sterling Holloway, the film's plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends, Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, try to convince him to leave the jungle before the ruthless tiger Shere Khan arrives.
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated adventure fantasy film produced in 1952 by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, the film was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson. Featuring the voices of Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Bill Thompson, Heather Angel, Paul Collins, Tommy Luske, Candy Candido, Tom Conway, Roland Dupreee and Don Barclay, the film's plot follows Wendy Darling and her two brothers, who meet the never-growing-up Peter Pan and travel with him to the island of Never Land to stay young, where they also have to face Peter's archenemy, Captain Hook.
Paul J. Smith was an American music composer and violinist best known for his work at Disney.
A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's natural habitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world.
True-Life Adventures is a series of short and full-length nature documentary films released by Walt Disney Studios between the years 1948 and 1960. The first seven films released were thirty-minute shorts, with the subsequent seven films being full features. The series won eight Academy Awards for the studio, including five for Best Two Reel Live Action Short and three for Best Documentary Feature.
Oliver George Wallace was an English composer and conductor. He was especially known for his film music compositions, which were written for many animation, documentary, and feature films from Walt Disney Studios.
Disneynature is an independent film studio that specializes in the production of nature documentary films for Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008, and is headquartered in Paris, France.
Seal Island is a 1948 American documentary film directed by James Algar. Produced by Walt Disney, it was the first installment of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries. It won an Oscar in 1949 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
James Algar was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked at Walt Disney Productions for 43 years and received the Disney Legends award in 1998. He was born in Modesto, California and died in Carmel, California.
Nature's Half Acre is a 1951 American short documentary film directed by James Algar. In 1952, it won an Oscar at the 24th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). The film was produced by Walt Disney as part of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries, and was paired with Alice in Wonderland during its original theatrical run.
Winston Murray Hunt Hibler was an American screenwriter, film producer, director and narrator associated with Walt Disney Studios.
Water Birds is a 1952 American short documentary film directed by Ben Sharpsteen. In 1953, it won an Oscar for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) at the 25th Academy Awards. The film was produced by Walt Disney as part of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries. It was shot in Technicolor by more than a dozen cameramen and was created in cooperation with the National Audubon Society and the Denver Museum of Natural History.
Bear Country is a 1953 American short documentary film directed by James Algar. It won an Oscar at the 26th Academy Awards in 1954 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel). The film was produced by Walt Disney as part of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries, and played with Peter Pan during its original theatrical run.
Norman Paul Kenworthy Jr. was an American film director and cinematographer, mostly for Disney studio films. As co-inventor of the Snorkel Camera System, a remote-controlled periscope camera, he shared a 1978 non-competitive Academy Award for technical achievement with engineer William Latady.
Jungle Cat is a 1960 American documentary film written and directed by James Algar. The documentary chronicles the life of a female jaguar in the South American jungle. The film was released on August 10, 1960, and was the last of Walt Disney Productions' True-Life Adventures series of documentary feature films.
Jungle Rhythm is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on November 15, 1929, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the thirteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the tenth of that year.
Joseph Simon Dubin was an American composer and orchestrator, scoring and orchestrating more than 200 motion pictures during his career. His brother, Al Dubin was an American songwriter, lyricist, soldier and actor. Joseph Dubin is best known for composing the soundtrack for the 1930 MGM film The Big House, as well as the Walt Disney films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Dubin also orchestrated and scored many television series, including Zorro and The Mickey Mouse Club.