The Living Desert is a wonderful nature documentary from 1953 that began a string of similar Disney documentaries that I was familiar with growing up in the 1950's and 60's. The struggle for existence in a forbidding landscape is made amusing and interesting and it was a great learning experience as well as entertainment for young people who caught their first glimpses of nature up close on their new family television with manual button controls and rabbit ears. The familiar voice-over narrative by Winston Hibler gives an ongoing account of wildlife activity in the southwestern dessert of the United States. This apparent wasteland is teeming with life.
The photography is a joy to watch as we view lizards lapping up unsuspecting insects, turtles performing a mating ritual, javelinas chasing a bobcat which is forced to take refuge on a large prickly cactus. The movie is well edited as the viewer watches the seamless transition from scene to scene accompanied by music often right in tune with the action. Symphonic music for the slithering, striped snake burrowing in and out of the sand, soon followed by hoedown music for courting tarantulas. Told in the vernacular of mid-20th century life, we hear analogies to males fighting off rivals for the right to the female. Fortunately, these scenes are still available to viewers on stations like TCM. Highly recommend.
The photography is a joy to watch as we view lizards lapping up unsuspecting insects, turtles performing a mating ritual, javelinas chasing a bobcat which is forced to take refuge on a large prickly cactus. The movie is well edited as the viewer watches the seamless transition from scene to scene accompanied by music often right in tune with the action. Symphonic music for the slithering, striped snake burrowing in and out of the sand, soon followed by hoedown music for courting tarantulas. Told in the vernacular of mid-20th century life, we hear analogies to males fighting off rivals for the right to the female. Fortunately, these scenes are still available to viewers on stations like TCM. Highly recommend.