The Vanishing Prairie

1954 documentary film directed by James Algar

August 17, 1954 (1954-08-17)

Running time

60 minutes (VHS and Wild Discovery version)
71 minutes (original)CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBox office$1.75 million (US and Canadian rentals)^[1]

The Vanishing Prairie is a 1954 American documentary film directed by James Algar and released by Walt Disney Productions.

The theme music was given a set of lyrics by Hazel "Gil" George.^[2] It was rechristened as "Pioneer's Prayer" in Westward Ho, the Wagons!, a western film about pioneers on the Oregon Trail.

The Vanishing Prairie was released on video in 1985, and 1993 in United States.

Synopsis

Cast

Awards

5th Berlin International Film Festival: Big Gold Medal (Documentaries and Culture Films)^[3]
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (1954)^[4]^[5]

References

^ "1954 Box-office Champs". Variety. January 5, 1955. p. 59. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
^ "2 Women That Had a Profound Influence on Walt Disney's Life". disneyfanatic.com. August 22, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
^ "5th Berlin International Film Festival: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
^ "NY Times: The Vanishing Prairie". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
^ "The 27th Academy Awards (1955) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Retrieved May 30, 2019.

External links

The Vanishing Prairie at IMDb
Information at Disney.com
The Vanishing Prairie at Disney A to Z

Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures

Short subjects

Seal Island (1948)
In Beaver Valley (1950)
Nature's Half Acre (1951)
The Olympic Elk (1952)
Water Birds (1952)
Bear Country (1953)
Prowlers of the Everglades (1953)

Features

The Living Desert (1953)
The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
The African Lion (1955)
Secrets of Life (1956)
Perri (1957)
White Wilderness (1958)
Jungle Cat (1960)

Documentary

The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures (1975)

Awards for The Vanishing Prairie

v t e Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
1942–1975	The Battle of Midway / Kokoda Front Line! / Moscow Strikes Back / Prelude to War (1942) Desert Victory (1943) The Fighting Lady (1944) The True Glory (1945) No Award (1946) Design for Death (1947) The Secret Land (1948) Daybreak in Udi (1949) The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950) Kon-Tiki (1951) The Sea Around Us (1952) The Living Desert (1953) The Vanishing Prairie (1954) Helen Keller in Her Story (1955) The Silent World (1956) Albert Schweitzer (1957) White Wilderness (1958) Serengeti Shall Not Die (1959) The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960) Sky Above and Mud Beneath (1961) Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler (1962) Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963) World Without Sun (1964) The Eleanor Roosevelt Story (1965) The War Game (1966) The Anderson Platoon (1967) Journey into Self (1968) Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life (1969) Woodstock (1970) The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971) Marjoe (1972) The Great American Cowboy (1973) Hearts and Minds (1974) The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)
1976–2000	Harlan County, USA (1976) Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (1977) Scared Straight! (1978) Best Boy (1979) From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China (1980) Genocide (1981) Just Another Missing Kid (1982) He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1983) The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) Broken Rainbow (1985) Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got / Down and Out in America (1986) The Ten-Year Lunch (1987) Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988) Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989) American Dream (1990) In the Shadow of the Stars (1991) The Panama Deception (1992) I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School (1993) Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994) Anne Frank Remembered (1995) When We Were Kings (1996) The Long Way Home (1997) The Last Days (1998) One Day in September (1999) Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
2001–present	Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001) Bowling for Columbine (2002) The Fog of War (2003) Born into Brothels (2004) March of the Penguins (2005) An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) Man on Wire (2008) The Cove (2009) Inside Job (2010) Undefeated (2011) Searching for Sugar Man (2012) 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) Citizenfour‎ (2014) Amy (2015) O.J.: Made in America (2016) Icarus (2017) Free Solo (2018) American Factory (2019) My Octopus Teacher (2020) Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) Navalny (2022) 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

v t e BAFTA Award for Best Documentary
1948–1989	Louisiana Story (1948) Daybreak in Udi (1949) The Undefeated (1950) Beaver Valley (1951) Royal Journey (1952) The Conquest of Everest (1953) The Great Adventure (Det Stora äventyret) (1954) The Vanishing Prairie (1955) On the Bowery (1956) Journey into Spring (1957) Glass (Glas) (1958) The Savage Eye (1959) Dispute (1960) Volcano (Le Rendezvous du diable) (1961) Four Line Conics (1962) Individual Honour (1963) Nobody Waved Good-bye (1964) Tokyo Olympiad (1965) Goal! The World Cup (1966) To Die in Madrid (1967) In Need of Special Care (1968) Prologue (1969) Sad Song of Yellow Skin (1970) The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971) Cutting Oils and Fluids (1972) Grierson (1973) Cree Hunters of Mistassini (1974) The Early Americans (1975) The Canadians (Los Canadienses) (1976) No Award (1977) The Silent Witness (1978) The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979) No Award (1980) Soldier Girls (1981) Burden of Dreams (1982) Schindler (1983) 28 Up (1984) Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1985) Shoah (1986) Baka – People of the Rainforest (1987) Death on the Rock (1988) Four Hours in My Lai (1989)
2005	The Orphans of Nkandla (2005)
2011–present	Senna (2011) Searching for Sugar Man (2012) The Act of Killing (2013) Citizenfour (2014) Amy (2015) 13th (2016) I Am Not Your Negro (2017) Free Solo (2018) For Sama (2019) My Octopus Teacher (2020) Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) Navalny (2022) 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
Between 1990–2012, the documentaries continued to be honoured at the British Academy Television Awards.