Zeus

The Living Desert (1953)

• Director
  • James Algar
• Writers
  • James Algar(screenplay)
  • Winston Hibler(screenplay)
  • Ted Sears(screenplay)
• Star
  • Winston Hibler

  The Living Desert was the first feature-length entry in Disney's "True Life Adventure" series. Co-written and narrated by Winston Hibler, the film opens with a close-up glance of percolating desert geysers, with appropriate musical accompaniment. Among the wildlife specimens depicted herein are the roadrunner, the chuckwalla, the skunk, the scorpion and the kangaroo-rat. Much of the narration is undercut by lame attempts at humor; however, a battle between a rattlesnake and a tarantula, followed by a contretemps between the rattler and a hawk, are played "straight," and most effectively. Much of the footage in The Living Desert was photographed by N. Paul Kenworthy Jr., as part of his UCLA doctoral thesis.