12:00 AM – Secrets of Life
The fourth full-length feature in Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures nature documentary series was 1956’s Secrets of Life. Rather than focusing on a particular species or region of the world, Secrets of Life focuses on plants, how they grow, and how their seeds get planted. Many audience members had never seen time-lapse footage of plants growing prior to this film’s release. It also features some amazing photography of bees and the mysteries behind how honey is made.
Recommendation: There’s a lot of beauty to be found in ‘Secrets of Life,’ although the late hour, dry subject matter and dulcet sounds of Winston Hibler’s narration might put you to sleep. DVR if you’re interested.
1:30 AM – Nikki, Wild Dog of the North
Nikki is a malamute puppy in the beginning of this film when his owner rescues an abandoned bear cub. After tying the two animals together, they get lost in the wilderness and rely on each other’s animal instincts to survive. As Nikki grows up in the wild, he learns to distrust humans when he crosses paths with a wolf hunter. It will take a reunion with his original owner for this wild dog to learn how to trust again.
It’s very fitting that Nikki, Wild Dog of the North airs right after a True-Life Adventures film because these narrated animal pictures were the series’ successor. Producer Winston Hibler continued to write and produce these scripted animal films, which were inexpensive to make and an easy money maker for Disney. This particular film was a co-production with two Canadian film companies (Cangary and Westminster Films) and the animals were the main draw, with unknown actors in the human supporting cast roles. While slow at times and more violent than typical Disney films of the 1960’s, it’s one of the best films of it’s kind and is only surpassed by 1963’s The Incredible Journey, which went on to inspire 1994’s Homeward Bound.
Recommendation: While ‘Nikki, Wild Dog of the North’ doesn’t entertain the same way modern animal films do, it still offers an inspiring story and some beautiful shots. DVR if interested.
3:00 AM – Return to Snowy River
Return to Snowy River begins with the infamous blue castle intro, yet this Walt Disney Pictures release from 1988 bears little resemblance to the type of film you expect from Disney. A sequel to the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River (released by Twentieth Century Fox), this film reassembled most of the creative team and cast of this Australian production from the Hoyt Film Group. Disney served as a co-financier and gained distribution rights in the US in perpetuity, but does that make it a Disney film?
In Australia, this film was released as The Man from Snowy River II. Jim Craig returns to Snowy River to rekindle his romance with Jessica. However, her father has arranged a wealthy marriage for her and does not agree to their partnership. When the young lovers defy her father, a new fight breaks out between Jim Craig and her wealthy would-be suitor.
While Return to Snowy River is fitting with the evenings lineup of nature films, it doesn’t quite feel fitting as a “Treasure” from the Disney Vault since it encourages you to redefine what a Disney film is. Is it simply the ownership of the film in one country, or should they have been more involved in the film’s creation? There is one interesting connection to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea though, which is that Kirk Douglas was in The Man From Snowy River and his part was recast with Brian Dennehy in this sequel. It’s a slow paced drama that doesn’t offer much excitement until the end of the film, but it does feature some breathtaking wide shots of the Australian mountains.
Recommendation: Only tune in if you have insomnia, in which case this will surely fix your problem. It’s not worth staying awake for and also isn’t worth the opportunity cost of adding it to your DVR. But if you somehow stay awake, be sure to check out the rarely used “adult” Walt Disney Pictures logo at the end of the credits.
4:45 AM – Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.
The successful writing team behind Mary Poppins (Don DaGradi and Bill Walsh) leant their talents to this 1966 Disney comedy based on a story by Retlaw Yensid, which Disney fans will instantly recognize as Walter Disney spelled backwards. Walt Disney loved working with Dick Van Dyke and this project was created especially for him, directed by one of Van Dyke’s go-to TV producers, Byron Paul. With all that in mind, it’s surprising how bad Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. truly is.
Dick Van Dyke plays Lieutenant Robin Crusoe, a Navy pilot who winds up stranded on a deserted island. But he soon finds that he’s not really alone when he finds a stranded space chimp named Floyd to keep him company. But when the daughter of a nearby island’s chief is marooned on Rob’s island, he finds himself leading a gang of rebel island natives in a civil war against their tyrannical ruler.
The biggest problem with this film is that it’s two hours long. The first thirty minutes alone are comprised of Van Dyke trying very hard to make being stranded seem funny without anyone to act against. Things improve slightly once the chimp arrives, but there are only a handful of genuine laughs (most of which are thanks entirely to Floyd). There’s some impressive location shooting in Kua’i, but for inexplicable reasons the film also uses a lot of sodium vapor shots to make the actors look like they are on an island when they are clearly not. One scene features animated fireworks, similar to the “Step in Time” sequence from Mary Poppins, and I suspect some of that animation might have been reused here. But perhaps the worst thing about Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. is the stereotypical Japanese impression that Van Dyke pulls out for more cheap laughs. He also bizarrely references the original Robinson Crusoe novel on which this is based, and to keep on trend also makes a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea reference long before the Eisney synergy era.
Recommendation: If you want to see some of the most talented people at Disney do a painful belly flop, watch ‘Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.’ But if you prefer to believe that the talented team behind ‘Mary Poppins’ could do no wrong, just pretend it doesn’t exist.
Thus concludes this quarter’s evening of all-Disney entertainment on TCM. I really enjoyed the nature theme and it’s one that Leonard Maltin could easily revisit several times over as the studio produced tons of content with this theme. The evening starts out very strong with some great shorts and truly classic films like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Secrets of Life. The weakest content has been saved for the latest hours, with Return to Snowy River and Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. barely worth your time. I hope you’ve enjoyed this look ahead at March 9th’s programming lineup and I can’t wait to find out what the next theme for TCM’s Treasure’s from the Disney Vault will be.