My parents obviously saw the need to teach my siblings I that lesson because when this film was in its post release and had a drive-in showing, we all got to go, and that was one of my earliest film-going experiences which remains with me almost 50 years later. It isn't only the sprawling beauty of Kenya or the joyous title song which to this day instills tears, but the love and kindness of the heroine Joy Adamson (the beautiful Virginia McKenna) who raises a lioness cub to adulthood with the help of her loving but concerned explorer husband (Bill Travers). George Adamson was forced to shoot the cub's parents when they charged at him and his party, but was caring enough to bring the three cubs back. The story starts with Joy finger-feeding the stubborn cubs milk and shows how the two stronger cubs followed Joy's favorite cub Elsa's lead and began drinking as well. This establishes Elsa as a true heroine among cats because her accepting milk from a human saved her sibling's lives.
When the curious cubs begin to get too big, Joy agrees that they must be taken to a zoo, but her love for Elsa forces George to keep this one behind. Elsa begins to think of the Adamsons as her parents, showering them with love and following them around more like a big dog than a big cat. But Elsa's natural instincts begin to take over and when finding herself in a herd of elephants, Elsa creates a stampede which infuriates the locales who demand that the Adamsons due something about the now too large adult lioness. Elsa though isn't trained to kill to eat, so in order to prepare her to be set free (Joy wouldn't hear about the zoo!), they take her to the wilds to find a mate and let her go. A truly funny scene has a very lazy male lion pretty much ignoring the affectionate Elsa as George and Joy watch (what, no privacy?) and later, Elsa gets literally into a cat-fight with another lioness over the king of beasts holding court on top of the African plane rocks.
This is a movie of triumphing over the impossible which shows how human love for God's other creatures can cause them to sometimes think more with their hearts then with their brains, and how they try to amend the situation. In many cases, it reminded me of "The Miracle Worker" with Joy replacing Annie Sullivan and Elsa replacing Helen Keller. Both Joy and Annie had truly difficult obstacles to overcome and Helen and Elsa had to learn in their own way and time what their teachers were trying to get through to them. You won't be able to hold your tears in for the final scene where you feel you literally can here the beloved Elsa saying "Thank You" to Joy as nature and the good side of humanity come together for one last visit.
When the curious cubs begin to get too big, Joy agrees that they must be taken to a zoo, but her love for Elsa forces George to keep this one behind. Elsa begins to think of the Adamsons as her parents, showering them with love and following them around more like a big dog than a big cat. But Elsa's natural instincts begin to take over and when finding herself in a herd of elephants, Elsa creates a stampede which infuriates the locales who demand that the Adamsons due something about the now too large adult lioness. Elsa though isn't trained to kill to eat, so in order to prepare her to be set free (Joy wouldn't hear about the zoo!), they take her to the wilds to find a mate and let her go. A truly funny scene has a very lazy male lion pretty much ignoring the affectionate Elsa as George and Joy watch (what, no privacy?) and later, Elsa gets literally into a cat-fight with another lioness over the king of beasts holding court on top of the African plane rocks.
This is a movie of triumphing over the impossible which shows how human love for God's other creatures can cause them to sometimes think more with their hearts then with their brains, and how they try to amend the situation. In many cases, it reminded me of "The Miracle Worker" with Joy replacing Annie Sullivan and Elsa replacing Helen Keller. Both Joy and Annie had truly difficult obstacles to overcome and Helen and Elsa had to learn in their own way and time what their teachers were trying to get through to them. You won't be able to hold your tears in for the final scene where you feel you literally can here the beloved Elsa saying "Thank You" to Joy as nature and the good side of humanity come together for one last visit.