Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees  (1965)

The first ever film National Geographic produced, Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees formed part of the Society’s mission to televise their large and diffuse natural history knowledge. An engaging and deeply personal account of ethologist Jane Goodall’s painstaking research, the production follows both her, and her chimpanzee subjects in the remote forests of Gombe, Tanzania.

Captivating footage allows a real insight into man’s closest relative, and the extraordinary perseverance of their intrepid observer. These intelligent primates are seen resting, playing and most significantly eating meat, proof on film of Goodall’s controversial assertion that chimpanzees are indeed carnivores.

Capturing the unique relationships Goodall had built with the individual chimps, award-winning wildlife photographer Hugo van Lawick reveals her hours of patient observations and detailed ‘anthropological’ experiments. Instantly befriending one another, a special relationship also blossomed between the filmmaking pair, resulting in their marriage in 1964.

The first of many films concerning her work, Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees is credited with opening the world’s eyes to these entertaining creatures, and the pressing need to save their ever-shrinking habitat.

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Hugo van Lawick