Gifts of an Eagle (1975)
107 mins | Documentary | 12 December 1975
Director:
Rex FlemingWriter:
Dale MyersProducer:
Kent DurdenCinematographers:
Ed Durden, Kent DurdenEditor:
Steve BradfieldProduction Company:
C. B. Bartell, Inc.The Summary for this partially viewed film is based on a review in the 24 Dec 1975 Var, a synopsis from executive producer and distributor C. B. Bartell, and a couple of film clips.
Principal photography ended 21 Jul 1975 at the Childs Estate, a wild animal park near Santa Barbara, CA, according to the 28 Jul 1975 Box. The 24 Dec 1975 Var noted that the film contained home footage taken in the 1960s.
Ed Durden’s son, Kent Durden, first brought the story of “Lady” to public note with his 1972 book, Gifts of an Eagle, which described Lady’s training and her appearance in many Hollywood films, particularly for Walt Disney Studios.
The 17 Dec 1975 HR reported that Gifts of an Eagle opened that day in seventeen CA cities. Aside from singing the film’s theme song, “Lady Of The Wilderness,” Burl Ives gave an on-camera introduction. Kent Durden provided the film’s narration.
In a later filmed interview, sound man Nick Vincent said that since some of the Durdens’ early 16mm film had no sound, he created various sound effects, including the flapping of Lady’s wings.
...
The Summary for this partially viewed film is based on a review in the 24 Dec 1975 Var, a synopsis from executive producer and distributor C. B. Bartell, and a couple of film clips.
Principal photography ended 21 Jul 1975 at the Childs Estate, a wild animal park near Santa Barbara, CA, according to the 28 Jul 1975 Box. The 24 Dec 1975 Var noted that the film contained home footage taken in the 1960s.
Ed Durden’s son, Kent Durden, first brought the story of “Lady” to public note with his 1972 book, Gifts of an Eagle, which described Lady’s training and her appearance in many Hollywood films, particularly for Walt Disney Studios.
The 17 Dec 1975 HR reported that Gifts of an Eagle opened that day in seventeen CA cities. Aside from singing the film’s theme song, “Lady Of The Wilderness,” Burl Ives gave an on-camera introduction. Kent Durden provided the film’s narration.
In a later filmed interview, sound man Nick Vincent said that since some of the Durdens’ early 16mm film had no sound, he created various sound effects, including the flapping of Lady’s wings.
In the mid-1950s, with a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, wild bird trainer Ed Durden and his eighteen-year-old son, Kent Durden, capture a young golden eagle on a mountain near Santa Barbara, California. They name her “Lady” and house her in a specially constructed mountaintop aerie. Lady adapts to semi-captivity and accepts Ed as her companion, but she dislikes Kent because he once held her down to trim her talons. Every time she sees Kent from the air, she dive-bombs him. Meanwhile, Ed tests Lady’s intelligence and memory, and is surprised how quickly she learns to use a line of string attached to a piece of meat. Ed also teaches her to make aerial maneuvers on command, so that she can be used in several Hollywood films. One day, Lady lays two eggs, but since they are infertile, Ed replaces them with a fertile goose egg. When the gosling is born, Lady raises him as if he were her own, even though she would have normally made a meal of him. Afterward, Ed brings Lady the eggs of other birds to hatch, in order to eventually prepare her to handle two fertile eagle eggs from the wild. When the eaglets are born, Lady allows Ed to share the parental duties of feeding them and guarding the nest when she is off in the sky. While filming a movie in Arizona, Lady and her eaglets are attacked by a wild eagle, but she drives off the intruder and returns to Ed, battered but victorious. When Lady is sixteen years old, another wild eagle comes to court her, and Ed decides it is time for her to go ...
In the mid-1950s, with a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, wild bird trainer Ed Durden and his eighteen-year-old son, Kent Durden, capture a young golden eagle on a mountain near Santa Barbara, California. They name her “Lady” and house her in a specially constructed mountaintop aerie. Lady adapts to semi-captivity and accepts Ed as her companion, but she dislikes Kent because he once held her down to trim her talons. Every time she sees Kent from the air, she dive-bombs him. Meanwhile, Ed tests Lady’s intelligence and memory, and is surprised how quickly she learns to use a line of string attached to a piece of meat. Ed also teaches her to make aerial maneuvers on command, so that she can be used in several Hollywood films. One day, Lady lays two eggs, but since they are infertile, Ed replaces them with a fertile goose egg. When the gosling is born, Lady raises him as if he were her own, even though she would have normally made a meal of him. Afterward, Ed brings Lady the eggs of other birds to hatch, in order to eventually prepare her to handle two fertile eagle eggs from the wild. When the eaglets are born, Lady allows Ed to share the parental duties of feeding them and guarding the nest when she is off in the sky. While filming a movie in Arizona, Lady and her eaglets are attacked by a wild eagle, but she drives off the intruder and returns to Ed, battered but victorious. When Lady is sixteen years old, another wild eagle comes to court her, and Ed decides it is time for her to go free in the wild. He opens Lady’s cage and lets her join her new mate. However, Ed cannot stop worrying about Lady. He wanders the mountains where he last saw her, and eventually he sees two eagles circling in the distance. He returns to the mountaintop in his airplane, flies near their aerie, and sees that Lady is safe and free.
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