Die Wüste lebt

When "The Living Desert" was first released, despite it being something new - a feature-length nature documentary released to regular movie theaters - it upset critics to a degree. I can sort of understand why it did. For one thing, it on occasion manipulates footage for humor, such as with the notorious "scorpion dance" sequence, which comes across as somewhat embarrassing today. Also, it is even more clear today that with 1953 audiences that some "outdoor" scenes were filmed on an artificial desert set on a soundstage. Despite these problems, the documentary is still worth a look. Viewers young and old will learn a lot about the wildlife in the American desert. The movie moves along at a brisk pace, with no dead spots. And some of the footage is still spectacular today, such as with the sequence with the tarantula-hunting wasp. By the way, Walt Disney did learn his lesson with this documentary - later entries in the True-Life series significantly toned down the humor and the manipulation.

This was Disney's first effort to put a true life adventure on the screen. Supposedly it took nine years to make, however, some of the scenes were filmed under controlled conditions. Still, it is certainly worth seeing. For its time, the photography was outstanding. Winston Hibler does his usual fine job narrating.

Documentary of the live of flora and fauna in a desert in the United States. The film won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The film was inspired by 10 minutes of footage shot by N. Paul Kenworthy Jr., a doctoral student at the University of California at Los Angeles. Kenworthy's footage of a battle between a tarantula and a wasp intrigued Disney, who funded a feature-length production following the lives of diverse desert species. Disney was highly supportive of Kenworthy's work and its impact on nonfiction filmmaking, stating, "This is where we can tell a real, sustained story for the first time in these nature pictures." Indeed, this film not only captures animals, but makes them really fascinating to watch. As a child, I saw a few of those Mutual of Omaha specials, and never really got into them. But this film? Fascinating. The turtle fight, the bird against a whole swarm of bats... that is something that can only be nature at its most raw, without prodding from the man behind the camera.

Everyone of all ages should have the opportunity to see this great film. Living desert took 3 years to make and was the spinoff of a doctoral thesis. It features real life desert adventure footage. Red tailed hawk vs. rattlesnake, ground squirrel vs. gila monster, kangaroo rat vs. sidewinder--- it's all here. The real highlight is a breathtaking 2'25" confrontation in which a large female wasp subdues and paralyzes a tarantula with her stinger. The film also features beautiful botanical time lapse photography in brilliant color. The "Best Documentary Oscar" was created specifically for this film and it was the first recipient of the award. I,ve seen a lot of desert nature footage over the years, but Living Desert is still the standard by which all of the others are measured.

I can see purists criticizing some of the footage for being too cute, the "dancing scorpions" and its voice-over, for example. But this was a commercial venture meant to entertain and educate at the same time. So liberties were taken. For example, predatory kills were kept to a minimum, with the quarry often getting away. Also, some critters like snakes and spiders seem natural villains to most of us, while little furry critters seem friendlier. The movie makes use of these popular reactions.

Nonetheless, Disney's little formula worked. As I recall, this feature and its companion The Vanishing Prairie, (1953), were both box-office successes. Now, of course, much of the same material can be gotten on cable. Still, some of the footage is superb: the blooming desert flower buds, the flash flood, and who would imagine a wasp that only hunts tarantulas--that's a real fight to the death. All in all, whatever the commercially driven excess, the footage still manages to fascinate and, yes, help educate non-naturalists like me.