The Vanishing Prairie
Directed by James Algar
Written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, and Ted Sears
1954/USA
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] “Trees were so rare in that country, and they had to make such a hard fight to grow, that we used to feel anxious about them, and visit them as if they were persons.”
― Willa Cather, My Ántonia[/box]
This is what a nature documentary looked like in the 1950’s.
The film starts out with a cartoon view of the American prairie. Then the narrator creates a picture of what a party of early settlers would have seen as it crossed the wild prairie on the way to Oregon. After the introduction, the film focuses on various prairie birds and animals, often creating little anthropomorphic stories to go with their behavior.
I enjoyed this for what it was. There seemed to be more focus on birds than there was in Disney’s The Living Desert and I especially liked that part. The movie spent a lot of time with prairie dogs who are, of course, super cute and easy to create drama and comedy around.
The Vanishing Prairie won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature.
Clip – opening
