White Wilderness

Between 1948 and 1960, Disney made fourteen nature documentary films, seven of them short subjects and seven of them full length and all narrated by Winston Hibler. Starting with 'Seal Island' and ending with 'Jungle Cat'. This series was called True Life Adventures, seen as a big fan of Disney and nature documentaries and after wanting to see some older nature documentaries. The True Life Adventures series is a more than worthwhile one and of consistently high quality (especially the short subjects) and do prefer all of them over most of the recent years DisneyNature films.

Really did want to like 1958's 'White Wilderness' so much more. It is truly frustrating, as the good things are many and the quality of the best of those good things is some of the best of the series. This could easily have been the best of True Life Adventures feature films, but actually at the end of the day ended up being my least favourite and it is the only puzzling Oscar win of the three the True Life Adventures series garnered. 'White Wilderness' is the one to contain the most controversial, and now widely criticised, sequence of the series and it is one that is so out of place (unfortunate seeing as that was not like the series) and tactless that it spoils the film. Not single-handedly, as there were a couple of other things wrong too, but significantly enough.

'White Wilderness' does have a lot that is good. It looks wonderful, the colour photography is so vivid in colour and never static. Showing the majestic scenery, both beautiful and uncompromising, in all its glory. Especially the way the rivers and glaciers are used. The music score is one of the series' best, so lush and energetic and not only adds to the action but enhances it in a way that few other entries in the series did to such an extent. Will agree that it is one of the best paced feature films in the series, tighter and more succinct and with more of a good natured feel.

Enough of 'White Wilderness' is informative and it entertains and moves. The polar bears are absolutely adorable and their playfulness infectious. Much of the footage is dazzling, especially when showing how the scenery is affected by environmental challenges. Also liked how pulling no punches some of it is, with it making some good points worth addressing and still relevant.

By all means however, 'White Wilderness' isn't perfect. Some of the most over-jokiness and cutesiness of the series is here, some of the humour in the narration particularly is forced. Usually didn't have a problem with Winston Hibler's good natured and at times deadpan narration for the series, but he is very monotone and going through the motions sounding.

The worst aspect is the lemmings sequence, very controversial at the time and still majorly criticised for good reason. No other sequence in the True Life Adventures series had this much controversy or criticism, not even the scorpion mating dance scene in 'The Living Desert'. The lemmings sequence's staging is very manipulative and excessively tasteless, it is made clear in the film what the scene was trying to say but the reasoning seemed very at odds with the way the scene is staged. Also found it very out of place within the film and the series. It didn't single-handedly ruin 'White Wilderness', but significantly brought it down and spoilt it (especially when one sees how different attitudes are regarding animal protection in documentaries).

Concluding, so many good things but very frustrating. 6/10.

This documentary is one of the best ever produced by Disney and has both the strengths and weaknesses of most Disney documentaries-excellent visually and technically but with narration that is all too frequently vapid, silly and boring, with the added difficulty that the narrator's droning monotone almost puts me to sleep. The visuals more than make up for any shortcomings. Recommended.

Uh, a documentary should accurately depict reality. This sensationalist piece is made up of unrealistic staged scenes in which hundreds of animals lost their lives, accompanied by eerie music and a narrator spreading falsehoods.

For instance, the scene where lemmings are depicted as committing suicide was produced in the following unethical manner: the production crew hired individuals to capture hundreds of lemmings in Canada, then herded them in front of cameras to create the illusion of a mass migration. In the subsequent shot, they were coerced into jumping off a cliff into the sea, leading to their drowning. Lemmings do not actually engage in suicidal behavior. This cannot be classified as a documentary.

Oscar-winning Disney documentary, directed by James Algar, about life in the Arctic (filmed in Canada). As with the other Disney nature documentaries I've seen from this period, the beautiful photography of the scenery and wildlife is what makes this worth recommending. There's exciting footage of rushing rivers and glaciers breaking apart and playful footage of polar bears playing, etc. Oliver Wallace's excellent score compliments the action well. A good thing, too, as Winston Hibler's monotone narration can be sleep-inducing. There have been many similar television and film documentaries in the decades since this was made but the footage here is so good it still manages to impress. Some scenes were staged, including the unpalatable 'lemming suicide' scene. Today, where discussions of the environment are concerned, there are inevitable axes to grind and flags to be raised. What's refreshing about seeing older docs, such as White Wilderness, is that they are just trying to provide a look at nature's many wonders in an informative and entertaining way. There's no agenda. Some elements may be dated but, for the most part, this is still a great documentary with lovely nature photography that should please most viewers.