Filming Wild Animals
(1954)
Bursting onto the small screen with this glamorous series, Filming Wild Animals is a casual and intimate account of Armand and Michaela Denis' adventures as they toured the African subcontinent.
Gamely catching abandoned elephants, highlighting scurrying scorpions, and joining in with tribal dances, the beautiful and bubbly Michaela proved an entertaining presenter. With husband Armand providing interesting voice-overs, much of the show's appeal was based around Michaela's immaculate appearance. Interviewed some time ago she commented, "I wanted to be glamorous" - her lipstick, and indeed her composure, failing to falter throughout the entire series.
A pioneer of African wildlife documentaries in the 1930s, Armand's impressive photography details a wealth of intriguing bird, mammal and reptile life. Hugely popular with the viewing public, Filming Wild Animals provided a glimpse into a distant and exotic land. Building on its success, the intrepid Belgian couple barely left British screens for the next decade, producing a number of engaging wildlife travelogues.
