El León Africano

Really a superb nature documentary, a captivating watch. I can't think of a better film on the wild kingdom. Why isn't this available on video? This is not specifically a film about lions as it's title implies, this is a film about the African wild, untouched, with fascinating looks at the life and times a full variety of species including elephants, rhino's, giraffes, antelope, monkeys, leopards, and more..

Near the beginning, the narrator says; "This is Africa, The Lions Realm.." which would have been a more appropriate title. The film covers a lot of different species, and it does so in a way that enables the viewer to both absorb specific insights into the daily existence of individual creatures, while at the same time experience the essence of the wild as a whole.

Now admittedly, I love nature and wildlife type shows; and my opinion is that this production made over 50 years ago, is amongst kings of nature films.

The amazing miracle about this film is not just the world of patience spent during three years to catch all these animals and their ways of life on film, not just the brilliant camera technique in approaching the animals to their intimacy, not just the broad universal scope of the presentation of African wild life, but above all to make the music illustrate it all with incredible precision of observation, timing and faithfulness, as if the animals did what they did conducted by the music. Paul Smith was applied in several Walt Disney films and always with more eloquent results than he was given any credit for. Walt Disney displayed a knack for this already in "Bambi", in which the music carefully follows the entire narrative with overwhelming faithfulness and precision, and the same miracle is presented here, like also in other documentaries of his like "The Living Desert". This is a quality in Walt Disney that is generally overlooked, his immense musicality and skill of applying it to his films, to make them wonders of experience both visually, mentally and musically.

Feature length documentary, part of Disney's True-Life Adventure series.

This was the best reviewed of the series – both at the time of it's release and in more recently reviews - and it really is quite good. While the music is over-the-top, and some of the narration is a bit Disney 'cute', a lot of the narration is really informative, and a lot of the wildlife photography is amazing, especially considering when it was done.

It's not really about Lions as much as the whole African world they lord over. There's some footage of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and a locust swarm that's flat out breathtaking.

NB: On the same disc is 'Bear Country', an Oscar winning 30 min short.

Anybody who has a fascination with lions should definitely consider seeing 'The African Lion', especially if you have seen other documentaries primarily focused upon lions (i.e. 2011's 'The Last Lions') or featuring them (most episodes of documentary series that focus upon the wildlife of African habitats). Also if nature documentaries and Disney are your cup of tea, they certainly are mine, and if you want to see what older nature documentaries were like.

Having really liked the previous two True Life Adventures feature films 'The Living Desert' and 'The Vanishing Prairie', and taking all the above into account, expectations were high. And they were definitely met, as was the case with pretty much all the True Life Adventures series, feature films and short subjects (with only 'White Wilderness', which still had a huge amount to recommend, disappointing a little). It is not the definitive documentary on lions or one of the best of this particular series, but 'The African Lion' is incredibly well made and interesting and holds up very well.

'The African Lion' isn't perfect. The True Life Adventures feature films, oddly enough the short subject films didn't have this problem, did have the common problem of having some too cute and too jokey moments. 'The African Lion' is no exception, especially with the birds and the hippos. Some of the jokiness was again a bit forced and not needed.

On the other hand, a huge amount is done right and outweighs what could have been done better. 'The African Lion' looks great, the colour photography is so vivid in colour and never static. Showing the majestic scenery, both beautiful and uncompromising, in all its glory. Really liked the music on the whole, which was a mix of grand and catchy even if it occasionally over-emphasised the humorous moments. The animals, wonderfully varied, are a mix of adorable, sinister and fun to watch.

Moreover, the cubs are so playful and cute and the mother's love was very touching to watch. The hunting does thrill and doesn't get dumbed down. The material is familiar, ground-breaking actually back then but if you have seen similar footage or similar themes in documentaries made in the past forty or so minutes it's recognisable, but it doesn't feel tired. One of my favourite scenes of the True Life Adventures series is the jaw dropping locust blizzard, that is the closest the series gets to the sensation of "wonder at how this was filmed". Winston Hibler's delivery was not an issue to me, nicely deadpan at times but also always good natured.

Very good on the whole. 8/10.

I saw this documentary in 1960 at age 11 and never forgot it. It was very well done. It is wonderful. I watched with my father who is gone for 28 years. I was so impressed with the beauty of the species that spent collecting everything I could about animals. The scenes are beautifully shot and encourage children to like and, of course, preserve animal life. Fantastic, wonderful. Just the initial presentation of the documentary to paint the map of Africa and its different regions, it is a lesson in Geography.In the following years despite developments in technology not seen documentaries that level which makes it even more valuable. It is an example of a job well done.Unfortunate not copy for sale there.