Walt Disney Legacy Collection Volume 1: Wonders of the World DVD Review
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 12.29.2006
Enjoy True Life Adventures in this two disc set of classic documentaries
Disc One
Walt’s nephew Roy Disney gives an introduction to the series as a whole and this volume in particular. Roy started out his career as an assistant film editor on the True Life Adventure series.
White Wilderness: Total running time 72: 21. The documentary starts out by profiling the ice age and states that elements of that time still exist today in the arctic. The harsh climate and natural landscape of the arctic is profiled. We then get into stunning footage examining how arctic animals exist in the wild as they find food, housing and mates. We start with the walrus. They are warm blooded and prefer sunning on rocks and quick swims into the nearby waters than full blown treks into the arctic on ice flows. They are fat and usually docile, but can turn mean and attack one another with their sharp tusks. The polar bear is the enemy of the walrus, yet the “symbol of this ghostly land.” Unlike the walrus the polar bear will make long swims to get to good hunting areas and uses icebergs and ice chunks as resting areas. Twin bear cubs are tracked as they nurse on their hibernating mother then explore the arctic wasteland. A baby seal is also shown and they are examined. Polar bears prey on seals and particularly go after young ones. White whales are profiled followed by lemmings. Some great footage shows a lemming trapped under a sheet of ice trying to navigate its way like it is trapped in a “hall of mirrors.” Lemming live below ground and come up with the spring thaw where they coexist with ptarmigan birds and snowshoe rabbits. Lemmings are not the suicidal animals as rumored, but rather undertake occasional mass migrations when population is high. This leads them open to attacks by enemy birds like owls, ravens and jaegers and the weasel like urman. The migration also often results in the tiny creatures accidentally running off a cliff or into the water to their death. They just have this natural urge to go on and on until they can’t any longer. Various birds are looked at including an odd tree living duck. The musk ox is a leftover from the ice age that looks and behaves much like it did then. Its natural enemy is the wolf. Wolves also pray on caribou, moose and reindeer. The only animal that can scare a wolf away from its kill is the wolverine. The narrator claims this documentary is the first to fully track and detail the life and habits of the wolverine. The short spring season ends going back to the frozen cold and so ends the documentary.
Water Birds: Total running time 30:39. A group of gannets live on an outcropping near the ocean. They make nests on the crag and raise their young. We then cut to a colony of turns who have a lifestyle similar to that of the gannets even though the are separated by thousands of miles. Next up are the pelican and their wars with the gulls. Various other bird species are also highlighted focusing on their mating rituals, nest building and birth of their young. The basic plot is birds and their young. Footage is filled with spectacular midair flights and the rare hatching of newborns.
Beaver Valley: Total running time 31:55. This is one of Disney’s most beloved and acclaimed nature documentaries. It won the Academy Award for best short subject documentary in 1951. Beaver Valley in the Rocky Mountains is kept fresh and green most of the year thanks to water conservation from the smart and hardworking beaver, put over as nature’s architect and engineer. The beavers’ works serves other animals who live in the valley from otters to frogs to moose to wolves who prey on the animals. Salmon also swim up stream to spawn in the valley’s lake created by the beaver dams. The film is a tight examination of a specific ecosystem and provides a great examination of the grandiose of nature and animals on a small and controlled scale.
Prowlers of the Everglades: Total running time 31:56. Various fish and birds are mentioned, but the alligators that prey on them are the main attraction of this documentary. However, even the mighty alligator is not without predators on them as raccoons and skunks will eat alligator eggs. The piece opens with some moody, atmospheric cinematography of the swampland and closes with great footage of a rainy evening, but the uniqueness of the Everglades as an ecosystem with ties back to ancient times is ignored and this comes off as the pretty standard Disney True Life Adventure where the raising of babies and building of homes as the central focus. Maybe the Crocodile Hunter has spoiled us in recent years, but this came off blander than it should have been.
Disc Two
Mysteries of the Deep: Total running time 23:55. Groundbreaking underwater photography makes for a visually fascinating piece. Still today many sea creatures like the manta ray remain mysterious and in need of further study. Crystal clear photography and never before examined at the time subjects make for fascinating viewing, even when Disney goes to the old reliable of animals and their young. Male seahorses convulsing to spit out young from a sack under their chest and minute newborn octopi eating their own egg sack for nourishment will pique your curiosity. Roy Disney in his introduction on disc one mentions this as the first screen credit he ever received as he wrote the narration and helped produce.
Wonders of the Water Worlds: Total running time 49:32. This was an episode of “Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” and has an introduction by Walt Disney. It’s an amalgamation of just about everything above. Oceans, lakes, streams and rivers are looked at with their various environments and animals. From the pika in the green land of the brook to giant whales in the middle of the ocean. The piece is structured well as we start with rain falling to earth at the start of a brook in the Rocky Mountains and then follow that as it flows down waterfalls, through calm lakes, over raging rapids, mighty rivers and spilling out into the vast ocean before evaporation sends it back to the heavens to come back again as rain. New narration helps mask some previously used footage and footage that was obviously cut from other works, but when you have material that good why not reuse it. The show is a bit rambling and goes off on tangents, such as the confrontation of a beaver and a wildcat nowhere near the water.
The Crisler Story: Total running time 18:49. This was part of the old “Disneyland” series and originally aired coupled with “Prowlers of the Everglades” from above. Narrator Winston Hibler is seen as he introduces the story of caribou migration that was to be shot for an upcoming documentary. Herb and Lois Crisler were the environmentalists and photographers that set out to capture the migration and in a great addition to this disc we get to see the other side of the camera as the Crislers establish a homestead and suffer the hard weather in order to capture authentic footage. They suffer through several seasons of not seeing the caribou pass their way, but still get some great footage. Eventually they do get the caribou scenes they wanted. It’s a perfect bonus item.
Backstage with Roy Disney at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on Birds: Total running time 8:50. Dr. Beth Stevens is the primary host as she talks with Christy on her training and working with a macaw named Red. Shannon then brings in an owl. Roy basically stands around looking old and making dumb quips.
Tribute to James Algar: Total running time 2:57. Algar was a writer and director that won nine Academy Awards. He started out as an animator and animation director and was responsible for Abraham Lincoln’s speech and appearances in Disney’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. He eventually got into the nature documentaries and continued to produce work of this nature until his retirement in 1977. Too short to get a good feel for the man.
Filmmakers’ Journal: Total running time 22:27. Roy Disney talks about the crewmembers that helped bring the above works to life. All of the True Life Adventures won Oscars; five short subject and three features. “Beaver Valley” is especially highlighted and photographer Elma Millote is shown in a 1985 interview. She talks about the behind the scenes of filming the documentary, troubles encountered and triumphs achieved. Footage from the documentary is inter-cut. Lloyd Beebe talks about how he cut his teeth as a photographer on “White Wilderness.” Millote talks more on “Prowlers of the Everglades.” Composer John Debney expands on the importance of music to the documentaries and gives tribute to the men who worked on that aspect of the productions. Sound effects guru Jimmy Spencer is shown in a 1983 interview. A talking heads segment that works by providing some much needed background on the above groundbreaking works.
Collectors’ Corner: Disney historian and animator Stacia Martin shows some merchandising and advertising for the above works in a nice time capsule. “Beaver Valley” even got its own comic book and pop song.
Original Theatrical Trailers: Beaver Valley, White Wilderness and Water Birds have included trailers. It’s neat to see trailers for nature documentaries. The right footage and right narration is used to pique curiosity without giving everything away.
All original materials are in full screen with 5.1 surround sound. Everything is digitally remastered. The sound and picture is as great as can probably be achieved. For footage that is over fifty years old in some cases it looks like it was shot yesterday with current equipment. You cannot knock Disney’s technical wizards overseeing the restoration of this material.
One also has to mention the prestige packaging as the discs are incased in a tin that looks like a film can sitting in a faux velvet housing itself set inside a sturdy tin outer case.
The 411: Disney once again produces an exquisite DVD set with prestige packaging, top of the line remastering and transfers, tons of bonus material and unique main features. Nature lovers will find this a must own. Even today much of these documentaries stand up by showcasing animals and environments that are still mysterious and studied today. The photography is amazing for the time, which is helped by perfectly written narration and finely tuned editing. Over the next few weeks I hope to review the other three volumes of the Legacy Collection nature documentaries and feel they will all be this winning.
