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The Living Desert

Turkish title: Yaşayan çöl

“Opening a whole new world of entertainment!”

1953 · 1 h 9 min
Directed by James Algar
DocumentaryFamily

Cast

Winston Hibler (narrator)

Credits

Written by: James Algar Winston Hibler Ted Sears
Cinematography: Robert H. Crandall Paul Kenworthy
Editing: Norman R. Palmer

Plot

A Disney True-Life Adventure documentary portrays the animals of the American south-western desert through a year of seasons. Scorpions dance in a courtship, a wasp battles a tarantula and rattlesnakes, lizards and kangaroo rats survive the heat, while storms bring bursts of life to the sand. James Algar's 1953 film combined remarkable close-up photography with a humorous narration, and it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Sinekatalog’s take

Disney's True-Life Adventure documentary follows a year in the American southwestern desert, from dancing scorpions to a wasp fighting a tarantula. Charming, staged and playful, it is a classic of anthropomorphic nature filmmaking.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.3 / 10 (2,002 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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