The Best of Disney's True Life Adventures

The Best of Disney True Life Adventures (1975)

Disney writer, producer, director and also actor (wow this guy does a lot) Winston Hibler narrates a compilation film put together from most of Disney’s True-Life Adventure, which won 9 academy awards in total and set the stage for many of the nature documenters that we see and enjoy today.  Winston’s narration brings life and insight into the lives of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You learn a lot about the animals and their world and thus the series have been broken down into several educational shorts shown in schools.

Nature is filled with Drama, Spectacle, Mystery and of course Comedy. The preservation of this film is not very good as it looks grainy and blurry at times, but it represents a pioneering type of film in its genre and is worth watching for nostalgic sake as there are many other better looking nature documentaries put out since this film came out. Observing nature in the best visual quality possible is what an audience wants to see as they glimpse into a world they wouldn’t naturally see. This is a film Disney should invest in remastering. The individual films are available to watch either online or in a DVD set which includes the short films and the feature length films plus some extras.

It starts out showing clips of Walt with various animals talking about how much he loved animals and made them a part of his entertainment empire with mentions of the Mouse and the Duck. You have Walt with two tigers longing on his desk. A Lynx. A bunch of hound dogs tearing up his desk as he blows a horn with one of them leaping pretty high in the air after landing on the desktop. Walt was a lot like Stan Lee, he was really involved in the world he created, and people could see it by his weekly introductions in his anthology series. It would have been great had he had a cameo in every Disney live action production just like Alfred Hitchcock and of course Stan Lee.

It starts out with a clip from the first True-Life Adventure, the academy award winning

Seal Island (1948) in which we witness a lot of seals sliding into the ocean and two seals duking it out. This completion film is filled with many wonders and joys of the animal kingdom including lots of fights between species of the same kind and opposing species going up against one another. Next, we see a clip from the academy award winning

In Beaver Valley (1950) In which we see a clip of a beaver. Nothing exciting.  But later on we see sliding Otters in the Snow.

The Vanishing Prairie (1954) We see two Buffalo’s duking it out till a thunder storm comes then we see a stampede running across the prairie. We then see Big Horn Rams butting heads set to the Anvil Chorus.  We then witness the dancing sage grouse (prairie chickens) who may have inspired the dancing rituals of certain American Indian tribes. 

In what are clips I think are from

Water Birds (1952) we have the mystery of migration and Ducks landing on a frozen lake thinking they are landing on a nice smooth set of water, causing them to crash into other ducks. Also the mating ritual of the Whooping Crane.

Back to the Vanishing Prairie with a Falcon gunning for Prairie Dogs as they hide in their prairie holes peaking out and almost getting caught.

The Living Desert (1953) We witness the Wasp hunting for a tarantula to kill for it’s young only to confront an army of ants.  We then witness The Scorpion Square Dance. And the adventures of Skinny the Ground Squirrel   and his siblings as they hide from the squirrel eating Hela monster. The chase between an antelope and a mountain lion. Could be a great set up for a series of cartoons (road runner style).  After being too slow to catch the antelope, the mountain lion runs away from a pack of wild pigs, climbing a prickly cactus to get away from them. We then have the battle of HAWK vs RATTLESNAKE.

The African Lion (1955) We witness the lazy Lion lying around on the African plain. A pride of lion is a family and the family sticks together. So when an unwanted female lion wanders into a particular family of lions, the mother lions get into a cat fight with her. Unlike the Mountain lion, the African Lion catches his Antelope.

But unlike the title  suggests we get to witness the life of Elephants, Hippos and Crocodiles. The underwater footage of the Hippo is one of the best photo sequences of the film.

Jungle Cat (1960) We see the many animals of the Amazon Jungle with the Jaguar taking center stage. He tries to catch a monkey to no avail. No Antelopes running around in this jungle. We see mom Jaguar teach her cubs how to deal with their worst enemy the crocodile.  The best way to kill a croc we learn is too drown it. We then witness the croc’s cousin the alligators in

Prowlers of the Everglades (1953) With scenes the look like something from pre-historic times. We then see a chorus croaking frogs.

 Bear Country (1953) features the wacky antics of bears trying to scratch their backs by rubbing up against trees.

White Wilderness (1958) features our friend the Polar Bear. Walruses flee from his very presence. While the adult Polar Bear is serious and very business like , the cubs are care free and silly, sliding down mountains while trying very hard to climb up them. We witness the Adult wolves teach the young members of the pack to chase prey like the carabao. We witness the awesome force of nature of the super wild animal ‘The Wolverine’. Witness him climb a tree to eat a bird who can’t fly.  We then Witness the Lemmings and their plunge into sea.

We end with viewing some sea birds who cross the ocean to go to some nesting grounds far away. We witness them diving into the ocean at tremendous speeds. It shows more clips of various birds including the Flamingos. It ends with footage of different flocks of migrating birds.

There are supposedly clips from

Nature's Half Acre (1951)

The Olympic Elk (1952)

Which I couldn’t detect in this compilation film. The only True Life Adventure film not shown in this compilation is the only one labeled as a true life fantasy. Perri (1957) based on Felix Salten's 1938 book Perri: The Youth of a Squirrel.”

All in all this is a nice compliation and introduction to True-Life Adventure series. Although there are now better animal documentary films, some of them from Disney Nature, it is still a good look at nostalgic pioneering Disney movie magic.

Black Hole, The 1979

  Black Hole, The 1979

Bears and I, The 1974

Bears and I, The 1974

Bears and I (1974) AFI Description

‘The Bears and Me’ follows in the paw prints of such Disney films as ‘King of the Grizzlies”.  They both are based on true stories, came out in the 70’s, have Indians (or Native American’s) as major characters and or course feature bears.

KOTG featured an Indian protagonist named Moki.

TBAI features a Vietnam-vet protagonist named Bob Leslie. During the war his buddy and fellow soldier named Larch was killed in action. He travels to through the Whitebird Wilderness reserve on a quest to find Larch’s father Chief Peter A-Tas-Ka-Nay. He begins a relationship with him and another Indian named Oliver who runs the general store.

Moki feels a close spiritual connection to the bear, whose mother is killed.

Bob adopts the 3 black bears after their mother is killed. He wants to raise them to adulthood before releasing them back on their own. This upsets Chief Peter A-Tas-Ka-Nay, who thinks raising the 3 bears is akin to slavery and that this act angers the Great Spirit thus bringing bad fortune to the tribe. Besides trying to raise 3 bears Bob acts as

In KOTG Wahb is the name of the bear.

In the ‘Bears and I’ the names of the bears are Patch, Scratch, and Rusty. Bob has an especially close relationship with Patch.

The Cornell in KOTG shoots bears and wants to keep shooting bears.

Sam Eagle Speaker shoots bears and lights things on fire.

Wahb gets into a fight with another Grizzly for control of the forest.

Bob gets into a fight with the bad boy Indian named Sam Eagle Speaker after he tries shooting the bears and on a few other occasions.

Moki works alongside other men on the Colonels ranch.

All bears slide down snow in the mountains.

Wahb likes to knock things over.

The 3 cubs like to climb tries.

The Cornell is trying to run a cattle ranch.

Bob is trying to negotiate between the government men and the Indian tribe as the government wants to turn the reservation into a national park. This causes much friction and a secondary plot point to focus on when not focusing in on the bears.  The solution to the problem is somewhat predictable but works in the context of the story and of course the story is based on a true story, so there you go.

The Ranch hands attempt to help the Cornell run the ranch and one of them plays dead to avoid being mauled by Wahb after he sneaks up on him while he was sleeping.

After a fire breaks out, the workers hired to come and tear down the houses on the reservation work side by side with the Indians they are trying to relocate to another location. It’s a great scene of mutual peace between opposing parties.

Overall KOTG is a Ok Film. Entertaining and somewhat forgettable.

TBAI is a very good Disney film which is something to come back and watch and reaffirms good values and the treatment of animals and people. At one scene when one of the bears is injured and near death and the chief is refusing to help Bob and the bears, Bob reaffirms “Life is the most precious thing we have”.  If only all people would apply that principle from the moment of conception to natural death, we would have a happier world.

Biscuit Eater, The 1972

Biscuit Eater, The 1972

The Biscuit eater (1972)

‘The Biscuit Eater’ is a dog named Promise who will not hunt for his own food but is content to eat, well, biscuits handed out to him. His boy Lonnie and his best buddy Text train him to be a hunting dog and enter him in a hunting dog competition. He is doing well and fine and at the end his one dog opponent is ‘George Boy’ owned by Lonnie’s dad. This creates a problem as if Lonnie wins his dad gets fired from his job as dog trainer. What’s a boy to do? He insults Promise by calling him a Biscuit Eater and he runs away and in the end gets shot by Text’s dad. The End. This was one of the top 10 films when it came out in 1940.  It’s not on DVD (unless you by a bootleg copy) so you probably won’t likely see it.  Of course this film is not the one I’m really commenting on, it’s the Disney 1972 remake.

          The big difference in plot is that the Biscuit Eater’s name in this film is Moreover and Text has a mom and no dad. The dog also does not die in the end from a gunshot wound. I don’t know about the previous film but the remake has a funny (or someone trying to be funny) black sleek conman gas station owner named Willie Dorsey. Plus there is a cameo by Big Red, whom I think thought his film was better. My wife kept laughing during the film as it looked as if it was made in the 70’s even though it is supposed to take place in the 1940’s.  Both movies are based on a short story by James H. Street published in 1939.   It’s not an exciting Disney film and I believe is notable now for depicting a duo of 12 years carrying around a gun like it’s not a problem. No permit. No background checks. No waiting period. A different time. A different mentality. A time when responsibility was taught along with gun use and you didn’t have nuts shooting up places with weapons used by the military.

Scandalous John 1971

Scandalous John (1971)

At first, I thought that Super-star Disney actor Brian Keith was trying too hard to make sure he got his crazy portal of an aging cowboy.  But half way through ‘Scandalous John’ it dawned on me that this movie was a retelling of Don Quixote. I enjoyed it a little bit more after that realization. Scandalous John is the heroic delusional cowboy knight Don Quixote and his trusty illegal alien side kick Paco is Sancho Panza.  Scandalous John is looked after by his niece Amanda McCanless who is interested in dashing Jimmy Whittaker, the son of Barton Whittaker who wants Scandalous’ s land for the same reason all rich people in westerns want people’s lands, it will somehow make him money.

The story proceeds at a moderate pace as Paco and Scandalous had out to the golden city of Quivira with their heard of cows (one longhorn). Scandalous is always shooting off his gun at or near people. But like the A-Team he never actually hits anyone with his bullets and he never seems to run out of them. He fires at Paco thinking he is an intruder and then him and Paco fire at the imaginary intruders Scandalous thought he was firing at when he was firing at Paco. He fires at himself in the mirror shattering the mirror. And he fires at various people in a Western reenactment town like the one the Griswolds visited in Vacation. Good thing this guy only fires off his pistol. Imagine if he had something with a little more kick.

Scandalous always wears the same dungaree outfit, which makes me think he never showers. He feels free to ride his horse into stores when he has to get his supplies in town. It is in town that has a run in with the law, Sheriff Pippen played by Disney Superstar/M.A.S.H actor Harry Morgan who like the like the London bobbies does not carry a gun. He wants to deport Paco back to Mexico. It seems that this was not a controversial topic back then. SJ is also pretty good with a lasso and lassos a gang of motorcycle thugs when he believes they are pestering what he deems a damsel in distress. The damsel is none too happy he shoots up her trailer.  He also hijacks a train where he doesn’t hesitate to have people jump off, except the mariachi band playing music

The movie is amusing and average at the same time. The night time scenes while the train is moving don’t come off looking that clear as if it were actually night and another scene I can’t mention because ‘SPOILERS’ , comes across as looking fake. I feel like I should watch this again, thinking maybe I would appreciate more the 2^nd time around, but then again I have many more Disney movies to look at and review.  If your  a Disney enthusiast/completest it wouldn’t be bad to add to your collection..

King of the Grizzlies 1970

King of the Grizzlies 1970

King of the Grizzlies (1970)

Kicking off the 70’s, Disney offers movie goers what at first seems like another straight True Life Adventure. It has that style of film making complete with a narrator telling us the ins and outs of the life of Wahb the Grizzly Bear. The film starts out as many other Disney films with a shot of a book. It opens and we delve into the pages, into the story it tells. This tale is based on a true story that happen at the turn of the 20^th Century.

A 3^rd person narrated life is one part of the film, the other half is a straight drama of Moki the Indian. Moki is from the Cree tribe and works for his former army commander.  Wahb and his family wonder onto the area where Moki and the Commander are herding cattle. Mom kills a bull attacking her cubs, after her cubs chase a cow, and then the Commander kills the bears, or so he thinks. Wahb escapes death, his twin and mother are DEAD, and because he is a bear of little brain he soon forgets he was a part of a family and makes his long lonely trek into the world. He is found by Moki, who wrestles and ties him up and brings him to a location away from the cattle. Moki’s tribe had a connection to bears and now Moki has a connection to Wahb. This comes to play a major part later on in the story when Wahb has a chance to tear apart the man who killed his family.

Wahb grows up from a whinny little Grizzly to the 1300 pound king of the Grizzlies. Through the film we see him come into contact and conflict with mountain lions, other bears, other grizzlies, other animals, a female grizzly and of course the ranchers.  We see the romantic side of Wahb as he steers his short time girlfriend away from metal traps set up to hurt the great bear. He chases, he runs away, he fights, he knocks things over. One of Wahbs favorite hobbies is pushing things over, such as wagons and fences. Knocking over the fences lets out cattle and horses which doesn’t go over well with the Cornell. This sets the Cornell on a Captain Ahab quest for the great Bear, trying to finish off what he should have finished years ago when he was a helpless cub.

          While watching KOTG I rather enjoyed it. I didn’t watch it all in one setting and when it wasn’t on, I didn’t feel a strong compulsion to finish it.  It’s not the most exciting film, but is a good film. Nothing stands out, even when Wahb is standing at his full height, about the film, but it’s good that a simplistic non-blockbuster film is made as it tries to bring to life an area of life we don’t get to see that often, the life of Grizzly bear.  Similar and more entertaining is the Disney film, ‘The Bears and I’.

Moki (John Yesno), a Cree Indian, is made foreman of a sprawling cattle ranch owned by his former army commander. But he carries with him through life the lore of his own people. When he rescues a bear cub, Wahb, he feels a mystical connection between himself and the magnificent creature. Later, Wahb, now a 1,300-pound bear, returns from the wild to wreak havoc on the cattle ranch, and Moki must face this fearsome grizzly. This spectacular film depicts a territorial battle over a country of breathtaking beauty.

Smith! 1969

Smith! 1969

Smith! (1969)

Smith! Has a lot of things going for it.  It has Vectren legendary western actor Glen Ford in his only Disney outing as Smith. Smith, who has only 1 name like Bono, Madonna, or Blade, is a rancher who happens to love the native American people. He is always doing things for them, like cooking them meals, letting them take his cattle, giving them jobs and letting convicted murderers hide out on his land. The whole plot revolves around the suspected murder of a white man killed by Gabriel Jimmyboy played by actor Frank Ramírez.

The movie has several has several actual native Americans from the Indian Actors Workshop of Hollywood as the community of people who love Smith. This includes actor Chief Dan George as  wise Ol' Antoine. It has Disney actress Nancy Olsen as Smith’s wife and Super Disney Antagonist Keenan Hawk Wynn as the Sheriff who opposes Smith. And it also has Disney super Fuzz James Westerfield appearing in yet another Disney film as a cop. Christopher Shea plays Smith’s son Alfie, who voiced Linus in several of the Charlie Brown specials.

It has a great theme and messege against prejudice and racism especially towards the native American people.  My wife remarked that even in modern times their still playing cowboy and Indians.  These negative qualities of human nature never seem to die.

Even though this film has several good things going for it, one thing seems to sink it for me. The film is Boring. It doesn’t matter what else it has as the story while interesting in itself is just  rather D U L L. B O R I N F G. It was hard to sit through because I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. The most exciting thing was the theme song telling about how awesome Smith was. The conclusion to the film was very Disney and another scene that was a major plot point was sentimental hogwash. 

Still it is amazing to watch a G rated film that would probably appeal more to adults then to kids. It is the example of what a real adult film should be, about adult themes without putting crap in it that would be inappropriate for kids. Still probably better then what passes for some Disney stuff today.  For the hard core Disney enthusiast this is one for the Disney Watching Bucket List.  But there are better Disney and Glen Ford movies out there to watch.