Skip to main content
The Living Desert Poster

The Living Desert (1953)

Nov 10, 1953 Documentary 1h 9m
User Score
71%
62 votes
Internet Movie Database
74%
Metacritic
6900%

Overview

Although first glance reveals little more than stones and sand, the desert is alive. Witness moving rocks, spitting mud pots, gorgeous flowers and the never-ending battle for survival between desert creatures of every shape, size and description.

James Algar
Director
Winston Hibler
Screenplay

Part of the True-Life Adventures Collection

Includes The Living Desert and other great movies.

Top Billed Cast

Full Cast & Crew

Media

Living Desert - Theatrical Trailer
Living Desert - Theatrical Trailer
Trailer
Loading Wikipedia summary...

Similar Movies

Reviews

Sign in to write a review.
A review by CinemaSerf
Written on June 7, 2025

There’s a fun scene in this documentary that sees a tiny little mouse try to burrow it’s way out of the jaws of a rattlesnake only to find it’s assisted by a very unlikely ally - a tarantula! That should give you a clue as to the content of this film that very much does what it says on the can. Using some intimate (and probably patient) photographic techniques, we spend time in the arid wilderness of Death and Monument Valleys where despite the dryness a great variety of flora and fauna not only survive but thrive. It’s very much an eat or be eaten mentality for just about everything as there prove to be few safe hiding places for predators with two feet, four feet, giant leaves, prickles or great big wings but there’s a sense of equilibrium here as everything seems to be in prop...

Read the full review on TMDb
×