Les îles de l'océan

Helped by some really quite imaginative scoring, this is an entertainingly photographed documentary that visits four island sites around the world. We start in the Galapagos, the home of some giant tortoises and iguanas before heading up to the Guadeloupes where the giant elephant seals hold court on the beaches. They always reminded my of my only ever stay in a Youth Hostel when a man in an adjacent bed snored fit to wake the dead. Then we go south to the Falkland Islands where we meet some Rockhopper penguins. With the waves dashing against the cliffs sufficient to wreck an aircraft carrier, these little bundles of blubber seem to bounce harmlessly off the rocks before they embark on quite a trek to the cliff top where they nest - under the constant gaze of the hungry skuas. Finally, there is a fleeting visit to the Midway archipelago so we can enjoy the albatross. A graceful and elegant bird in flight, sure enough, but its take-off and landing techniques can be downright comical. There's plenty of fun for us to watch here with loads of mating rituals and some of the camerawork is every bit as good as that which we might see using drones nowadays. This is one of the better Disney live-action features that shows everything from dancing crabs to frolicking chicks, and is an easy and informative watch.

This film was nominated for an Academy Award for the year of its release. This 28-minute film discusses and photographs the wildlife on the islands of Galapagos, Guadelupe, the Falklands, and Midway. Of course, they show the turtles of the Galapagos, and also the penguins of the Falklands. Although overall the film focuses more on birds, there is also quite a bit on the reptile inhabitants of these islands. One of the funniest segments include a penguin attempting to "sing" and an albatross attempting a clumsy landing in what had to be one of its less graceful moments.

Disney was for sure ahead of its time by decades in filming nature.

Here's a shorter example of the Disney nature documentary. It covers remote islands and their ihabitants: tortoises for the Galapagos, penguins for the Falklands, Elephant seals for the Guadalupes, and the albatross for the Mariannas. Or as the last are called on landing and take-off, goony birds.

I don't trust the 'facts' in Disney nature films since I discovered that lemmings did not unaccountably throw themselves off the cliffs of Norway, but even though there may be monkeying with the footage, there's no doubt that there's something bizarre about the seals, lovable about penguins -- when not in Gotham City -- and something absurd about the goony birds. They're so graceful in the air, and big-footed clumsy when they try to land or take off. So enjoy the pictures, even if you must take the narration with a grain of salt.