“Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam…” The tune for ‘Home on the Range’ is heard several times throughout this next film, suiting quite well with the location of the 2nd full-length True-Life Adventure. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
Turning back the clock to a time before the arrival of man, The Vanishing Prairie turns a spotlight to the animals that lived out on the prairie, such as bighorn sheep, buffalo, coyotes and prairie dogs, throughout the seasons. Includes lots of birds, mountain lion kittens, and stampeding buffalo.
What works
- The film opens with a painting, as did The Living Desert, which gave a quick view of the United States and a clear idea of what part of the country would be covered.
- As I was watching the film, I kept getting this impression of a museum tour or a theatrical production. The narrator, himself, even referred to a “prairie pageant” quite a bit. So I started focusing on the film with that idea in mind. The opening portion of the film, the first five minutes or so, felt like a walk through an exhibit, dedicated to the history of the prairie. In fact, there was even a portion of the film where ‘Native American’ paintings were shown, telling the story of what animals the Native Americans interacted with. But all of that history led to what the narrator said would be a chance to “recreate the wonderous pageant that was Nature’s prairie”.
- Like the film’s prairie setting, the narration is simple, yet matter-of-fact. The dialogue does continue a similar type of humor and personification that was demonstrated during The Living Desert.
- Also similar to The Living Desert, the music throughout the film plays a humorous supporting role. It elevates and transforms what is already on the screen. One such scene is when ducks arrive too early to find a frozen pond. A medley of different tunes are played as a montage is shown of the ducks sliding across the icy pond, crashing into one another.
- They included the actual birth of a buffalo calf. It is such a crucial part of the buffalo segment, with the rest of that particular segment worked around the birth. While other animals were shown with their young, in the post-newborn stage, it was absolutely fascinating watching how the buffalo interact with newborn calves.
- The movie’s not that long, little more than an hour, but it speeds straight through. Each segment connects to the next in seamless fashion, to the point that I forget how much time or movie has gone by, and then ‘poof’ it’s over.
- That is not to say that anything is lacking. In fact, I’d say just about everything is covered: birth, death, romance, natural disasters, and the general survival during the seasons.
Honorable Mentions
- Mama Grebe (a bird) after rescuing a misplaced egg: “I declare, these husbands. Always leaving things for someone else to pick up.”
- The entire bird section because if watching birds ‘dance’ isn’t entertaining I don’t know what is. I also feel my eyes were scarred a bit there but oh well.
- Shout out to the fawn who remained perfectly still so that the mountain lion didn’t get her.
Maybe if the pheasant had done that, she wouldn’t have lost her life in Bambi. - A prairie dog nursery is shown with the young prairie dogs asleep. It was adorable, looked super comfy, and I wanted to fall asleep myself.
Side Questions
- What happened to the nest of eggs floating away? You can’t just show that and not say if the parents got back to their eggs. There are children at stake!
What I learned from watching this film
- Having that ‘museum tour’ type of image in my head really added to my viewing experience. I love going to museums, especially natural history museums, so I was able to find a level of common ground with what was going on in the film. I had an easier time of understanding what the narrator was saying because it was presented in such a way that allowed the information to be accessible.
- This film captured such an amazing snapshot of what the prairie used to look like. Considering it’s been 64 years since The Vanishing Prairie was released, a lot has changed and I’m not sure how many of the beautiful animals shown in the film are still around or have become extinct. Non-fiction stories like this one are such an important part of our history because they remind us of what the world used to look like. With this being a film, that only increases its value because it not only talks about how animals lived but actually shows how they interacted with each other and what they did to make sure the next generation survived.
If you’ve seen The Vanishing Prairie, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue
Fast Forward to the next film with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
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