Living Free (1972)

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

LIVING FREE is the low budget sequel to the original African lion classic, BORN FREE. It says a lot that Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna didn't return for this follow-up, which casts Nigel Davenport and Susan Hampshire as the same characters before going on to tell the same story.And boy, is this horrendous. All of the charm and originality of the first film is missing here, leaving LIVING FREE feeling like a cheap cash-in more than anything else. The early scenes feature some excruciating re-staging of scenes from the first movie but with the new actors, while the latter half tells a straightforward story in a long and protracted way.The problem with this film lies with the actors, who just don't have the genuine love for the animals that the original cast members did. Particularly awful is Susan Hampshire, whose acting is embarrassingly awful: grating, overstated, sanctimonious when delivering her lines. Even worse, Millard Kaufman's screenplay presents Joy Adamson as a selfish, self-centred and quite obnoxious character who cares only for her own enjoyment, and I'm sure this is a disservice to the real-life Adamson.The only decent scenes in this are the scenes of the lion cubs playing and interacting with the natural world, but even these moments are spoiled by Hampshire's plummy, say-the-obvious voice-overs. Although I like this 'animal' sub-genre and especially classics like RING OF BRIGHT WATER and BORN FREE, LIVING FREE is definitely worth skipping.

Engaging family tale picks up where "Born Free" left off with conservationist Joy Adamson (here played by the gregarious Susan Hampshire) and her loyal husband George (Davenport replacing Bill Travers from the original) attempting to locate the mischievous trio of now orphaned lion cubs as they embark on a perilous journey through the East African savanna.The storyline is essentially subservient to the landscape, following the cubs' trials and tribulations as they scamper about in search of easy meals, practice hunting (with amusement) and narrowly avoid danger. Davenport and Hampshire don't execute the rapport of Virginia McKenna & Travers in the first picture, although given the latter were husband and wife, that could be forgiven.More a colourful faunalogue with which to showcase the rugged terrain and wild game of East Africa than a drama or human adventure, it's well-meaning and suitable for children even if doesn't emphasise the conservation message that prevailed in the original.

Born Free was a great family film with both adorable and ferocious animals in the film based on a true story, you would think it wouldn't need a sequel, but one was made. Basically the beginning of the film reminds of the vents from the previous adventure, where naturalist Joy Adamson (Susan Hampshire) and husband George (Nigel Davenport, Jack's father) cared for three lion cubs, letting go two to go to a zoo, but caring for Elsa until big enough to be let loose in the wild. Time has passed, and adult lioness Elsa has found herself a mate and given birth to a bred of three new lion cubs, Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa. Sadly, Elsa becomes very sick and dies, leaving behind her helpless cubs, so Joy and George take care of them until they too are grown up, which concerns their friend Kendall (James Bond's Geoffrey Keen). The cubs do indeed grow up, but Kendall says that they are in danger of both the poachers, but also they are in a game preserve owned by the not happy Warden Weaver (Edward Judd). After seeing them learn to hunt and kill for themselves, and enjoying their occasional company, Joy and George know that they must take action to ensure the lions are captured and taken away to another wild habitat. Many attempts to catch the three lions in the large cage boxes fail, with the lions fidgeting and not going in, and a near catch going wrong, but they are eventually caught. In the end Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa are indeed caught just before it's too late, and they are released into their new wild world. Also starring Peter Lukoye as Nuru, Shane De Louvres as Makedde and Robert Beaumont as Billy Collins. I don't know why the fantastic performers Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers declined to be in the sequel, maybe they read the script following almost exactly the same thing all over again. Hampshire and Davenport are alright but not as good, and the lions are still cute, cuddly and ferocious looking, but the title song isn't as memorable as Matt Monro's, and it is just a rehash, but not a completely terrible wildlife adventure. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film. Okay!

After Elsa's death, the Adamson couple have to undertake her cubs.Flabby sequel to "Born Free", unnecessarily verbose and determined to gain all its charm from the cubs, who are not on the screen long enough to maintain interest.