1958 nature documentary film by Walt Disney, in which DIsney LIED about lemmings.
" "Walt Disney has turned again to Nature for adventure and profit. With 'White Wilderness' the master of unusual entertainment has struck pure gold, for this is probably the best of his many true-to-life films""
—Wikipedia
Let's be fair. Disney was undoubtedly a great filmmaker, and this was no exception. Dealing with the harsh struggle for survival in the North Aerican Arctic regions, it was favourably reviewed for its photography, soundtrack and editing. As a portrayal of life in this hostile environment, it did an excellent job of bringing Arctic life to a mass of people, entertaining and educting them.
It does however, fall short in one regard, and that is the now-infamous scene of lemmings plunging off a cliff. This scene was the most manipulated of all the footage taken (and there was a lot of footage!). Frankly it was a setup. The animals were not even native to the area in which the filming took place; the crew procured Norwegian lemmings from Inuit people who had trapped them elsewhere. Through careful staging and editing the animals were filmed apparently streaming into the sea (actually, the Bow River in Manitoba). The voiceover narration complete the illusion, telling the audience that the animals were driven to suicide by population pressure (also false; some lemmings—though not the species filmed—will migrate under these circumstances, and while some may die as a result, it's no mass suicide.)
Whether Walt Disney knew about this subterfuge is not known. A later documentary on animal cruelty in Hollywood uncovered the true story behind this story, uncovering not just the lie, but the dreadful way the filmmakers abused the animals. The man who actually filmed the sequence, on James R. Simon, can also get tae fuck along with the rest of the corrupt, lying and cruel team responsible. "True-to-life", indeed.
Writ for LieQuest 2024: A Lie Quest of Mythologically Discordian Proportions.
Snopes
$ xclip -o | wc -w
324