''The Animal World'' is a 1956

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 ...

that was produced, written and directed by

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genr ...

. The film includes live-action footage of animals throughout the world, along with a ten-minute

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated sequence about

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. Irwin's intention was to show the progression of life over time, although he noted, "We don't use the word '

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

.' We hope to walk a very thin line. On one hand we want the scientists to say this film is right and accurate, and yet we don't want to have the church picketing the film."

Dinosaur sequence

The special effects in the film's dinosaur sequence were produced by

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...

and

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," ...

. Irwin originally planned to film the scenes as a series of static dioramas with plastic models, but Harryhausen suggested that the scenes would be more memorable if they were animated.Roy P. Webber. ''The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen''. McFarland & Company, 2004. p. 87-88. The dinosaurs that appear include a ''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...

'', a pair of ''

Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...

'', a ''

Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now North America. It is one ...

'', a ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

'' (which doubles as an ''

Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...

''), and a female '' Brontosaurus'', along with one of her hatchlings. O’Brien built the dinosaur models and miniature landscapes while the actual animation was performed by Harryhausen. With the stop-motion dinosaur sequence scheduled for only six weeks of filming, Harryhausen used two cameras for the sequence to get more footage in less time, and in interviews after his retirement he stated he ran into a “censorship problem” (apparently with the

Hays Office The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

) because it was felt the dinosaur fights were too gruesome, even though, as Harryhausen pointed out, the film's live action sequences show fights between lions and gazelles and the like. For many years, still shots from the segment were included in

View-Master View-Master is the trademark name of a line of special-format stereoscopes and corresponding View-Master "reels", which are thin cardboard disks containing seven stereoscopy, Stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small transparent color photographs on film.M ...

slide show reels. Some of the footage was reused for portions of the ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone ...

'' season 2 episode "The Painted Mirror," as well as in the 1970 film ''

Trog ''Trog'' is a 1970 British science fiction horror film directed by Freddie Francis, and starring Joan Crawford in a story about the discovery of a troglodyte (or Ice Age "caveman") in twentieth-century United Kingdom. The screenplay was writte ...

'', and the entire sequence was released as an extra on the 2003

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

release of '' The Black Scorpion''.

Comic book adaptation

* Dell Four Color #713 (August 1956)

Notes

External links

* 1956 films American documentary films Films about dinosaurs Warner Bros. films Documentary films about dinosaurs Films directed by Irwin Allen 1956 documentary films Films produced by Irwin Allen Films using stop-motion animation Films adapted into comics Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{sci-documentary-film-stub