Born Free

1966 95 min ★ 6.8 Adventure, Family, Drama, History

At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.

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Cast

Virginia McKenna

Joy Adamson

Bill Travers

George Adamson

Geoffrey Keen

Kendall

Peter Lukoye

Nuru

Omar Chambati

Makkede

Bill Godden

Sam

Robert S. Young

James

Bryan Epsom

Baker

Geoffrey Best

Watson

Robert Cheetham

Ken

Details

Director

James Hill

Screenplay

Lester Cole

Tagline

"From The Pages Of The Beloved Best Seller... A Motion Picture To Delight All The World!"

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Production

High Road, Open Road Films

Reviews

J

John Chard

March 26, 2016

★ 8/10

The wonders of Elsa. Born Free is based on George and Joy Adamson and their raising of a lioness during their time living at a game reserve in Kenya. It's directed by James Hill, adapted to screenplay by Lester Cole, and stars Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as the Adamsons. Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Kenneth Talbot. It's a classic case of a family film keeping everything...

R

Reno

August 4, 2016

★ 8/10

> We want them to be an angel, but being wild is what defines them. I thought I dreamt about these lions when I was a kid, but when I came to know about this film that made me realise I actually saw this film when I was a very young to remember anything. It was a few images remained in memory, that's how I tracked it. So while watching this now brought back those scary moments. Yep, I was scare...