''Jungle Cat '' is a 1960 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

written and directed by

James Algar James Algar (June 11, 1912 – February 26, 1998) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked at Walt Disney Productions for 43 years and received the Disney Legends award in 1998. He was born in Modesto, California ...

. The documentary chronicles the life of a female jaguar in the South American jungle. The film was released on August 10, 1960, and was the last of

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

' ''

True-Life Adventures ''True-Life Adventures'' is a series of short and full-length nature documentary films released by Walt Disney Productions between the years 1948 and 1960. The first seven films released were thirty-minute shorts, with the subsequent seven films ...

'' series of documentary feature films.

Synopsis

An amazing adventure to Brazil to discover the supreme ruler of the Amazon jungle: the jaguar. The film offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of a jaguar family in life-and-death struggles with a

caiman A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America f ...

, a

peccary A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North ...

, a

pirarucu The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus ''Arapaima'' native to the Amazon and Essequibo basins of South America. ''Arapaima'' is the type genus of the subfamily Arapaiminae within the family Osteoglos ...

, and an

anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus '' Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used ...

Release

The film was shown during the

10th Berlin International Film Festival The 10th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1960. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Spanish film '' El Lazarillo de Tormes'' directed by César Fernández Ardavín. Jury The following people were announ ...

in June 1960 and was one of a few to also be screened in East Berlin.

Reception

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote: "As written and directed by James Algar, this is one of Mr. Disney's best—intimate, tasteful, strong and matter-of-fact".Thompson, Howard (August 18, 1960)
"Disney Double Bill".
''

''. 19. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' stated: "Somewhat less astonishing, considerably less amusing, but equally as meticulous and painstakingly filmed as Walt Disney's previous true-life adventure pieces, 'Jungle Cat' pokes around in the lush rain forests of Brazil and comes up with some splendidly photographed shots of wildlife in its best survival-of-the-fittest form". Frank Mulcahy of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called the film "a fascinating study of 'the greatest hunter of all cats', the jaguar ... Like all films in this particular Disney series, it is beautifully photographed in Technicolor and shows every evidence of the painstaking work required to produce such remarkable footage". ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' said: "The detail of the film's reportage, and its photographic magnificence, are the more remarkable considering the conditions under which it must have been made ... The whimsy makes the film doubly suitable for children. But one still deplores the over-joviality of a commentary which noisily relishes the prospect of animals killing and eating one another—as when a jaguar, disappointed in some victim, casts around for another just as a wild pig trots into sight. 'Never mind', says the commentator, 'here comes a nice pork chop on the hoof!'"

References

External links

* * 1960 films Disney documentary films Walt Disney Pictures films American documentary films 1960 documentary films Films directed by James Algar Films about animals Films produced by Ben Sharpsteen Films scored by Oliver Wallace Films about cats 1960s English-language films 1960s American films {{US-documentary-film-stub