Serengeti (Allied Artists) (1960)

AWARD WINNER FILLS SCREEN WITH WILD AFRICAN BEASTS (Review) This is an occasion to regret debasement of the word “colossal,” because here is an Academy Award Film that in all truth deserves it. It gives you a sweeping panorama, in color, of the African plain, alive to the horizon with exotic animals in that part of the dark continent@#— known as the Serengeti steppes which give their name to the title of this picture from Allied Artists. “Serengeti,” which opened yesCOLO Ais DiulLO ai vices oo ass ct theatre, is sweeping in both its physical dimensions and in its range of audience appeal. For the toddler there is the never failing fascination of the zoo animals against the important plus of their native habitat. For the adult sensitive to the headline of the hour there is the fact that “Serengeti” deals with matters that are at the heart of the fast breaking African story. For the scientist and sportsman there is the ominous picture of civilization closing the ring on one of the world’s last great wilderness areas, threatening many of our classic animals with extinction. For everyone there are other abundant elements of drama, such as halting the mass slaughter of animals through wire trapping mechanisms by native poachers in what is for the moment at least a nominal wild animal reserve, a status which could be swept away by rise of the new nation states. Such as, too, the firing of “sleep arrows” at zebras, so that the animals, made placid by the drug tipped missiles, would allow themselves to be collared with bright nylon so that their grazing migrations could be recorded for science. There are, too, the bare bosomed, blue-black native beauties, the herds of giraffes racing with their long necks angled forward, lions retreating sheepishly from a fightfilled hippo. Not surprisingly, this picture comes from the father and son team, Dr. Bernhard and Michael Grzimek, German zoologists, whose Elephants, Lions Face Extinction Here is a footnote to the front page news about Africa. Such animals as the lion, elephant, and zebra face extinction! The Academy Award color film, “Serengeti,’ now screening at the Theatre for Allied Artists, is the bi-product of two scientists’ effort to do something about it. Naturalists Bernhard and Michael Grzimek photographed more than 300,000 of the animals to call attention to a grim fact. If political turmoil diverts the world away from the swiftly shrinking forests and grasslands, most of Africa’s wild animals will disappear forever. film making has won honors in international competition. The color is by Eastman and origin is credited to Okapia Films. While father and son _ share production credit, to the son alone goes a double credit, that for direction and photography by the No. 1 camera. Excellent music is by Wolfgang Zeller, with the commentary spoken by Holger Hagen. It is presented jointly by Allied Artists and Astral Pictures. The film’s Academy Award was for being best in the documentary class. In keeping with this remarkable film is a remarkable footnote. The son was killed on Jan. 10, 1959, right after its completion. As the zebra striped plane he was piloting, the camera plane, rose from a runway, a vulture rose with it, flying into a wing tip. The plane spun about and crashed. SERENGETI No. 3 Shown above are Dr. Bernard Grzimek (right) and _ his_ son, Michael, whose life’s work is picturized in Allied Artists’ Academy Award winning “Serengeti,” now showing at the Theatre. SUPERIOR Lions are man’s equal in many respects; in one, his superior: they don’t kill their own kind! This is the finding of the eminent zoologist Bernhard Grzimek which he incorporates in his color film for Allied Artists, the Academy Award winning “Serengeti,” now sereening at the...:...... Theatre. THE CAST 300,000 Wild Animals.... PLAYED BY THEMSELVES Michael Grzimek........ .... MICHAEL GRZIMEK Dr. Bernhard Grzimek... DR. BERNHARD GRZIMEK ry SERENGETI No. 23 Above is the artist’s conception of Serengeti, the world-famous African animal refuge as shown in Allied Artists’ Academy Award winning “Serengeti,” opening at the Theatre. The picture Ce er) is filmed in Totalscope and Eastman Color, Finishes Film; Dies In Crash An Academy Award color film, the young producer director of which was killed the day he finished it, is now screening at the ea erste Theatre. It is “Serengeti,” and the dead man is Michael Grzimek, 25, who died in the crash of the plane he had specially designed so that he could photograph the wild beasts of Africa for the film. He was taking off from a “bush” runway when one of the great hazards of African flying, the giant vulture, rose in front of him, hitting his right wing tip. His father and co-producer, Dr. Bernhard Grzimek, assembled the film for Allied Artists. SLOWEST An airplane with the world’s slowest flying speed — 30 miles an hour — was designed and built to make possible the color photography of otherwise inaccessible masses of wild animals in the interior of Africa, for the Allied Artists Academy Award film, “Serengeti,” now screening at the eee ee Theater. DART Wild and dangerous animals can temporarily be made as harmless as pussy cats by a method shown in Allied Artists’ Academy Award film, “Serengeti,’ now screening in color at the Theatre. The method involves shooting a drug-tipped dart into the animal. Both drug and dosage must be scientifically chosen. CREDITS Produced by Michael Grzimek. who met with a fatal accident while engaged in this work of exploration, and Dr. Bernhard Grzimek; directed by Michael Grzimek, who also was in charge of No. 1 camera; based on the book, “Serengeti Shall Not Die.” by Dr. Bernhard and Michael Grzimak; assistant cameramen, Richard Graft, Herman Gimbel, and Alan Root; music by Wolfgang Zeller: edited by Klaus Dudenhofer; commentary spoken by Holger Hagen: an Okapia Film Production in Eastman color. THE STORY (Non-tictional) Because of their love for animals, two zoologists, Dr. Bernard and Michael Grzimek, father and son, make a picture called “No Room for Wild Animals” and, pushing Walt Disney into second place that year, it makes them a fortune. They offer their profit to the government of Tanganyika in East Africa to help preserve the famous herds of wild animals on the Serengeti steppes where the beasts face extinction. Instead of accepting, the government asks that the father and son make the first census of animals and then find out just where the animals go on their grazing migrations. This the pair does, getting a special plane made to order from which they can make photographic surveys. In the course of doing this both the father and son and the animals, too, have exciting adventures, which are caught by the color cameras. Walls of fire race over the grasslands. One of the large grazing animals gives birth, and as the baby lies on the grass, a hyena, symbol of death, waits, only to be driven off by the mother's lowered antlers. The Grzimeks enlist in the government's war against natives who slaughter thousands of animals with illegal snares, exposing the little Grzimek plane to the oddest weapon ever used against aircraft — poisoned arrows. Michael wrecks the plane on an isolated steppe and in searching for water comes upon an abandoned crenelated castle. Native girls bathe nude and discover that more than a hidden camera is watching; a tiger, which sends them running. After many such dramas, little and big. the census is completed, showing that despite fhe camera to horizon herds, there are only a third as many animals as _ science had guessed. Also, that the pattern of migration is different from previous belief, information that is vital if the Serengeti wonder of the world is to be preserved for mankind. SERENGETI No. 22 The adventures of two of the world’s greatest scientists, Dr. Bernard Grzimek and his son, Michael, are pictured in “Serengeti,” Allied Artists’ Academy award winning film, now at the Theatre. Above is the artist’s conception of an actual occurence as shown in the film. HONORED DRAMA OF WILD BEASTS TO SCREEN HERE (Advance) All the animals of the Garden of Eden multiplied a thousand times seemingly crowd into the screen of one of the most remarkable films of all time that opens here in magnificent color next... Pa ee atte... 2 Pentre. It is “Serengeti” which started as a crusade by a father and-son team of naturalist-ex@— plorers to call the world’s attention to the fact that Africa’s classic animals face extinction and wound up winning an Academy Award and the applause of millions because of its gripping interest. By using a little airplane especially designed for the job, the father and son break a hitherto impenetrable barrier and take the viewer into a fair land teeming with magnificent animals as far as the eye can see and suggesting the dawn of creation, where Africa’s great herds and their rim of lions and other predators, making their last stand against encroaching civilization. Unlike a travelogue, the film is marked by drama, none of it fictional, Father and son join the government in its war on the natives who slaughter the beasts by the thousands, using illegal snares. Accustomed to hiding in the tall grass, the poachers fire poisoned arrows at the little airplane as it radios their location to searching native wardens. There is a remarkable birth of a large grazing animal, with a hyena, symbol of death, looking | flying are | on. The mother, lowering her horns, drives the hyena over the horizon. There are many vignettes of similar interest. The film was made by Dr. Bernhard and Michael Grzimek, with Michael, the son, doing the directing and a major part of the photography. Michael gave his life for the picture. Immediately after it was finished, he was taking off in the little airplane on an improvised runway. As he did so, a giant vulture rose in front of him, into one of the plane’s Wing tips. The craft spun around and crashed. EXOTIC German speaking makers of the color film, “Serengeti,” about the wild life of Africa, in preparing the narration in English found some of the indicated phrases in our language almost as exotic as the camera subjects; for example, “a pride of lions,” “a gaggle of geese,” “an exaltation of larks,’’ al proper idiom. The Allied Artists Academy Award film is at the a Uae Stans a foe one Theater. SON DIES FOR BEASTS; FATHER IS COMFORTED “I am comforted that my son died for wild animals of the world and the pleasure that they give mankind.” So spoke Dr. Bernhard Grzimek of his distinguished scientist son, Michael, 25, who crashed in the camera plane on the final day of shooting Allied Artists’ Academy Award color film, “Serengeti” now? screening Tati. (Hes ck a, ce ae Theatre. Father and son, both eminent naturalists and explorers, made the picture not for the usual commercial or artistic reasons, though it turned out a tremendous popular success, but to sound a worldwide alarm, as follows: Africa’s wild animals, which have fascinated the Western world for 2000 years, will soon be extinct unless immediate steps are taken to set up vast preserves against the encroachment of civilization. The fatal plane crash occured on the Serengeti steppes in East Afria when a giant vulture, an old hazard of “bush’ flying, rose up in front of the plane on take-off, colliding with a wing-tip. “T think of all the young men that marched to their death for Hitler, and before him Napoleon, Caesar, and other conquerors, and how really useless those sacrifices were,’ said Doctor Grzimek who went through World War II as director of the Frankfort Zoo in Germany. “On the other hand, my son died to advance a _ great cause.”’ Young Michael, who co-produced the film with his father, was also the director and first cameraman. No. 2 SERENGETI Scientists Dr. Bernhard Grzimek (left) and his son, Michael, are shown marking a zebra in this scene from Allied Artists Academy Award winning “Serengeti,” opening at the Theatre. eee eeen nce se es MAY VEIT 2. we te tee eee