White Wilderness (film)

Last updated

White Wilderness
White Wilderness - theatrical poster.jpg
Official theatrical poster
Directed by James Algar
Written by James Algar
Produced by Ben Sharpsteen, Walt Disney
Narrated by Winston Hibler
Edited byNorman R. Palmer
Music by Oliver Wallace
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • August 12, 1958 (1958-08-12)
Running time
72 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.8 million (est. US/Canada rentals) [1] [2]

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.

Contents

The film was directed by James Algar and narrated by Winston Hibler. It was filmed on location in Canada over the course of three years. [3] It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature [4] and the Golden Bear for Best Documentary at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival.

Reception

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Disney has assembled a fine, often fascinating color documentary on animal life in the North American Arctic". [5] Geoffrey Warren of the Los Angeles Times stated: "Walt Disney has turned again to Nature for adventure and profit. With White Wilderness the master of unusual entertainment has struck pure gold, for this is probably the best of his many true-to-life films". [6] Variety called the film "a fascinating screen experience. Filmed in awesome detail in the icy wastes of the Arctic, where struggle for existence is savage and cruel, this feature is one of the most spectacular of Walt Disney's 'True-Life Adventure' series, and as such can expect handsome returns from its particular market". [7] Harrison's Reports declared: "From the opening to the closing scenes, one is held enthralled by the truly remarkable shots of polar region wild life, both large and small, made all the more interesting by the fine Technicolor photography, the clever editing and the appropriate background music, which heighten both the comic and dramatic aspects of the different scenes". [8] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The familiar music score, production tricks, anthropomorphic humours and human-angle narration are again in evidence. The basic material, however, remains enthralling; in the case of lemmings and wolverines possibly unique". [9]

Controversy

White Wilderness contains a now-infamous scene that supposedly depicts a mass lemming migration, ending with hundreds leaping into the Arctic Ocean. The narrator of the film states that the lemmings are likely not committing suicide, but rather are in the course of migrating, and upon encountering a body of water are attempting to cross it. If the body of water the lemmings encounter is too wide, they can suffer exhaustion and drown as a result.

In 1982, the CBC Television news magazine program The Fifth Estate broadcast a documentary about animal cruelty in Hollywood called Cruel Camera, focusing on White Wilderness as well as the television program Wild Kingdom . The host of the CBC program, Bob McKeown, discovered that the lemming scene was actually filmed at the Bow River near Canmore, Alberta, and further that the same small group of lemmings was transported to the location, jostled on turntables, and repeatedly shoved off a cliff to imply mass suicide. [10] [11] According to a lemming expert, the particular species of lemming is not known to migrate, much less commit mass suicide. [11] Additionally, McKeown revealed that footage of a polar bear cub falling down an Arctic ice slope was really filmed in a Calgary film studio. [12] [13]

Wildlife photographer and filmmaker James R. Simon – who worked freelance for Disney on numerous True-Life Adventure films [14] – is credited as being the person responsible for staging the lemming sequence. [15] The Walt Disney Family Museum maintains that Simon committed the act of cruelty without the knowledge or approval of Walt Disney or anyone else at the Disney studio. [16] [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney anthology television series</span> Anthology television series

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.

Robert Duff McKeown, is a Canadian investigative reporter and former all-star and championship football player. He has worked for CBC Television and has also worked for NBC and CBS. McKeown returned to the CBC in November 2002 to host its investigative program, The Fifth Estate, a show which he had previously hosted from 1981 to 1990. In the intervening period, McKeown spent eight years working for Dateline NBC as a correspondent and five years with CBS News.

<i>Sleeping Beauty</i> (1959 film) 1959 animated Disney film

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the film follows Princess Aurora, who was cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent to die from pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on her 16th birthday. She is saved by three good fairies, who alter Aurora's curse so that she falls into a deep sleep and will be awakened by true love's kiss. The production was supervised by Clyde Geronimi, and was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, and Les Clark. It features the voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature documentary</span> Documentary genre

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.

<i>True-Life Adventures</i> Nature documentary film series by Disney

True-Life Adventures is a series of short and full-length nature documentary films released by Walt Disney Productions 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.

<i>Perri</i> (film) 1957 film by Ralph Wright, N. Paul Kenworthy

Perri is a 1957 American adventure film from Walt Disney Productions, based on Felix Salten's 1938 novel Perri: The Youth of a Squirrel. It was the company's fifth feature entry in their True-Life Adventures series, and the only one to be labeled a True-Life Fantasy. In doing so, the Disney team combined the documentary aspects of earlier efforts with fictional scenarios and characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Wallace</span> English-American composer (1887–1963)

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.

<i>The African Lion</i> 1955 American film

The African Lion is a 1955 American documentary film directed by James Algar. It was released by Walt Disney Productions as part of its True-Life Adventures series. The film, which was shot over a 30-month period in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda, focuses on the life of the lion within the complexity of the African ecosystem. At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival it won the Silver Bear (Documentaries) award.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston Hibler</span> American screenwriter

Winston Murray Hunt Hibler was an American screenwriter, film producer, director and narrator associated with Walt Disney Studios.

<i>Bear Country</i> (film) 1953 film

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.

White Wilderness may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemming</span> Tribe of rodents of the family Cricetidae

A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats, mice, hamsters and gerbils. In popular culture, a longstanding myth holds that they exhibit herd mentality and jump off cliffs, committing mass suicide.

Animal suicide is when an animal intentionally ends its own life through its actions. It implies a wide range of higher cognitive capacities that experts have been wary to ascribe to nonhuman animals such as a concept of self, death, and future intention. There is currently not enough empirical data on the subject for there to be a consensus among experts. For these reasons, the occurrence of animal suicide is controversial among academics.

Norman "Stormy" Palmer was an American film editor for The Walt Disney Company. He worked for Disney for around 45 years and served as a mentor to Roy E. Disney, who was later appointed vice-chairman of Disney productions. Palmer was best known for his work on the True-Life Adventures series, and in 1998 he was named a Disney Legend.

<i>Jungle Cat</i> (film) 1960 American film

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.

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.

Ruth Irene Tompson was an American camera technician, animation checker and supercentenarian. She was known for her work on animated features at The Walt Disney Company and was declared a Disney Legend in 2000.

Events in 1912 in animation.

Lois E. Brown Crisler was an American writer, filmmaker and conservationist. She wrote books about wolves and wildlife in the Arctic, including Arctic Wild. Her book Captive Wild recounted her experiences with an Arctic wolf that she held in captivity for seven years. With her husband, she created nature documentaries for Disney Studios about elk, bighorn sheep, bears, and caribou. Their short film The Olympic Elk was part of Disney's True-Life Adventures series.

References

  1. ↑ "1959: Probable Domestic Take", Variety, January 6, 1960 p 34
  2. ↑ "Top Grossers of 1958". Variety. January 7, 1959. p. 48. Please note figures are for US and Canada only and are domestic rentals accruing to distributors as opposed to theatre gross
  3. ↑ Thompson, Howard (August 13, 1958). "'White Wilderness' Opens at Normandie". The New York Times . Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  4. ↑ "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  5. ↑ Thompson, Howard (August 13, 1958). "'White Wilderness' Opens at Normandie". The New York Times . 22.
  6. ↑ Warren, Geoffrey (August 23, 1958). "Disney Hits Jackpot in 'White Wilderness'". Los Angeles Times . Part I, p. 11.
  7. ↑ "Film Reviews: White Wilderness". Variety . June 25, 1958. 6.
  8. ↑ "White Wilderness". Harrison's Reports . June 28, 1958. 102.
  9. ↑ Hayman, R. W. (February 1960). "White Wilderness". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 27 (313): 28. Bibcode:1960Natur.185...64H. doi: 10.1038/185064a0 . S2CID   45672372.
  10. ↑ Cruel Camera (1982). Event starts at 20:54.
  11. 1 2 Smith, Nadine (March 13, 2020). "How Disney Tricked the World Into Believing Lemmings Commit Mass Suicide". Hyperallergic. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Watch Video: Cruel Camera (May 5, 1982)". CBC News. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Snopes.com suicides". February 27, 1996. Retrieved July 12, 2009.
  14. ↑ Lawson, Jay (2005). "James R. Simon". wgfd.wyo.gov. Wyoming Game & Fish Department. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  15. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (1995). The Disney Films (3rd ed.). New York: Hyperion. p. 149. ISBN   0-7868-8137-2.
  16. ↑ Korkis, Jim (February 9, 2012). "Walt and the True-Life Adventures". waltdisney.org. The Walt Disney Family Museum . Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  17. ↑ Fischer, William (May 6, 2023). "These Disney Shorts and Movies Pioneered Modern Nature Documentaries". collider.com. Collider . Retrieved June 30, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.