Michael's Movie Grade:B+
Year Released:1960
History
Jungle Cat would be the last feature length nature documentary that Walt Disney would work on. The reason for this was that Walt felt that television was a better outlet for nature documentaries. Because of this many nature documentary sequences would appear on the TV show Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Three photographers were used for this film. They were Lloyd Beebe, James R. Simon and Hugh A. Wilmar. Unlike in previous nature documentaries, none of these photographers were new in working for Disney. They had all previously worked on past Disney nature documentaries. They spent two years in Brazil getting enough footage for this film. Some footage they got couldn't be used in the final film, because it was damaged by the humidity.
The rest of the crew were also Disney veterans. The director, James Algar (for instance) had been an animator at the Disney studio since the 1930's. He would go on to direct the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment of Fantasia, and many of the previous nature documentaries.
The film was a big hit with both critics and audiences.
Possibly the best Disney nature documentary.
The photography in this film is once again incredible. The whole film looks beautiful and awe-inspiring. Many scenes just take your breath away. The scenes where the jaguars hunt their prey are very exciting to watch and a bit scary as well. This movie does not hide the darkness and cruelty of nature. Many scenes are quite intense. This is especially true of the scene where the jaguars fight a snake. That scene can keep you on the edge of your seat as well as many great suspense movies can.
I have stated that I don't like the humor in this series, but there is not much of it here. This film plays it pretty straight. Shockingly the few funny scenes in this movie actually work. This is because the humor comes not from camera tricks, or narration, and there is nothing forced about these scenes. They come from the animals acting naturally as they should have since the beginning of the series. There is still on the other hand too much narration and it can be a bit distracting. I don't need a narrator tell me directly what I can easily see on screen.
Overall an excellent film and possibly the best Disney nature documentary.
Film Credits
Director: James Algar
Writer: James Algar
Narrator: Winston Hibler
Producer: Walt Disney
Music: Oliver Wallace
Photographers: Lloyd Beebe, James R. Simon, Hugh A. Wilmar
Editor: Norman R. Palmer
Production Manager: Erwin L. Verity
Sound Artist: Robert O. Cook
Special Effects: Ub Iwerks, Joshua Meador, Art Reily
Recourses Used
The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053977/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Jungle%20Cat
-Michael J. Ruhland
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