{"id":25492,"date":"2012-04-24T10:04:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T17:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25492"},"modified":"2021-07-27T10:35:25","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T17:35:25","slug":"living-desert-the-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25492","title":{"rendered":"Living Desert, The (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;In her desert drama, nature knows neither hero nor villain; she&#8217;s impartial, and plans for the survival of all.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster-116x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"116\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-25493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster-116x300.jpg 116w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster-49x128.jpg 49w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster-396x1024.jpg 396w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 116px) 100vw, 116px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA host of diverse animals and plants struggle to survive in the often-harsh desert climate of the U.S.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deserts<\/li>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nDisney&#8217;s first feature-length entry in its <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/True-Life_Adventures\">&#8220;True-Life Adventures&#8221; series<\/a> won an Academy Award as Best Documentary of the Year, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2000. It remains a reasonably compelling, carefully edited montage of desert footage (complete with soundtrack and authoritative voiceover), chronicling the harsh survival tactics of various savvy animals who understand each others&#8217; strengths and weaknesses to a tee, in addition to knowing how to fully exploit their environment (a bobcat chased by wild pigs seeks refuge at the top of tall cacti; a kangaroo rat throws sand in the eyes of a vulnerable eyelid-less snake; two male tortoises wrestle each other onto their backs in pursuit of a female). Modern viewers may already be overly familiar with the type of &#8220;educational&#8221; footage presented here, which has been available for viewing in various forms for literally decades (on television, and now in snippets on YouTube) &#8212; but this shouldn&#8217;t diminish the historical relevance of the film, which was groundbreaking at the time of its release, and led to several other similarly-themed, award-winning documentaries.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> You may or many not enjoy one of the film&#8217;s most discussed segments, in which scorpions &#8220;square dance&#8221; with one another &#8212; helped by the clever cinematic technique of running the film reel backwards&#8230; It&#8217;s done for comedic effect, but does it sully the supposed veracity of the documentary? <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plenty of fascinating footage of desert beauty&#8230;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Rainbow.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Rainbow.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Rainbow.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Rainbow-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Rainbow-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flowers.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flowers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flowers.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flowers-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flowers-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flower.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flower.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flower.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flower-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Flower-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#8230; and desert survival<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Scorpions.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Scorpions.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Scorpions.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Scorpions-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Scorpions-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Tortoises.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Tortoises.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Tortoises.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Tortoises-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Tortoises-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Storm.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Storm.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Storm.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Storm-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Living-Desert-Storm-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though kids are likely to enjoy it. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0046008\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1953\/11\/10\/archives\/two-pictures-have-premieres-the-living-desert-a-disney.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/movie\/the-living-desert-v29762\">All Movie Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagoreader.com\/chicago\/the-living-desert\/Film?oid=1073431\">Chicago Reader Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;In her desert drama, nature knows neither hero nor villain; she&#8217;s impartial, and plans for the survival of all.&#8221; Synopsis: A host of diverse animals and plants struggle to survive in the often-harsh desert climate of the U.S. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Deserts Documentary Survival Review: Disney&#8217;s first feature-length entry in its &#8220;True-Life Adventures&#8221; series won an Academy Award as Best Documentary of the Year, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2000. It remains&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=25492\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25492"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68293,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25492\/revisions\/68293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}