Some Cinematographic Wonders in Nature Documentary Cinema

Remember the extremely well-made, educating feature documentaries of Walt Disney Pictures made in the 50's and 60's including "White Wilderness" and "The Vanishing Prairie? Noted for its splendid visuals, Disney's "White Wilderness", shot in Alberta, was based on the myth of lemming suicide. During the filming of the documentary, there were nine different photographers, shooting and assembling footage of the various segments comprising the film. As matter-of-fact, nature documentary, which is always extremely difficult to film, showed the first sparks of cinematic brilliance in this film by Walt Disney pictures. The migration sequences filmed in the movie were concocted, with arctic rodents placed on snow-covered turnable and filmed from various angles. An illusion of a large herd of migratory creatures was created with the kind of cinematography that was really fascinating, considering those times. Again, in "The Vanishing Prairie", directed by James Algar, there was this stunning account of true-life adventure consisting of animal life in a remote area of America. The film was replete with some unique views of prairie dogs building their underground living quarters, of bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope frolicking on the steep, rocky mountains. The camera captured some really wild sequences including mountain lions preying on deer, a coyote using forced entry to get to a prairie dog dinner, and buffaloes waiting to pick a huge fight.