BORN FREE tells the story of Joy and George Adamson, a married couple who raised a trio of lion cubs in Kenya before attempting to release one of them back into the wild. Much like many of these "nature" films of the '60s and '70s - many of them invariably starring Bill Travers - this is heartwarming and naturalistic, with a slim story built around raw footage of the animals playing.
The film is engaging and heartfelt, and many viewers will instantly fall in love with Elsa, the plucky young lioness who tries to adapt to life in the wild after being brought up by humans. Travers and McKenna are excellent as the human characters in the drama, but really, given the subject matter, this would have been a hard one to get wrong.
The film is engaging and heartfelt, and many viewers will instantly fall in love with Elsa, the plucky young lioness who tries to adapt to life in the wild after being brought up by humans. Travers and McKenna are excellent as the human characters in the drama, but really, given the subject matter, this would have been a hard one to get wrong.