Born Free (1966)

Born Free is a bona fide family classic. The tale of how Kenya game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy (on whose book the film is based, with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers in the principal roles) adopted and raised three orphaned lion cubs, taking a particular shine to the one they call Elsa before helping her return to the wild, is familiar by now; so's John Barry's Oscar-winning title song. And while the movie has its flaws (it contains references to "Bwana George" and such that would be considered frightfully un-PC nowadays), the animal footage, especially that of the lions in their various stages of development, is extraordinary and timelessly entertaining. DVD bonus features are limited to theatrical trailers, but the digitally remastered film can be viewed in both widescreen and full screen. A keeper. --Sam Graham Amazon.com

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This was a movie that I had seen with my mother years ago, and that I had never seen and always wanted to..it was absolutely awesome, and affected both my wife and myself profoundly. This is a timeless movie that will always have the power to move people in ways that will reach far into the soul. I ended up doing quite a bit of research into animal rights organizations, and also ordered the movie Christian 'the lion at Worlds End' another movie involving Virgina McKenna and Bill Travers, although more peripherally than Born Free, and more about the two men that 'adopted' Christian after buying him in Harrods and then wanted to return him to the wild and enlisted the Travers couples' help. Also an incredible true story and we were very glad that the money spent on both movies goes towards helping these wonderful animals. August 29, 2008

Born Free.

Born Free This movie was great when it was in the theatres and it is great on DVD. A good print well preserved and the sound intact. In widescreen it is great so you can experience the vastness of the landscape.

The story is great. It is a pleasure to watch over and over. They should make more movies like this one. June 19, 2008

Excellent remastering of 2003 DVD release

This review pertains to the March 2003 DVD release of "Born Free". The picture and sound are fantastic! This issue presents a remastering of this relatively old film--and it looks brand new! The picture is sharp and the colors are rich and accurate. The format is anamorphic widescreen, so it looks great on a large screen TV. I viewed this movie on a 46-inch Samsung high defintion LCD TV, played on a Toshiba 1080p HD DVD player--and it looks stunning!

Of course, the movie itself is worthwhile--and this remastered version makes it even more worthwhile to own and watch again and again. Highly recommended! May 23, 2008

A Real Tear-Jerker

What can I say, a real classic film that always brings tears to my eyes. Kids will enjoy this film too. If you haven't seen it, buy it! March 29, 2008

One of the all-time great animal films

Along with Lassie Come Home, Born Free is probably the gold standard of animal movies in terms, and there's a lotto like in this story of Joy Adamson and her gamekeeper husband trying to return the domesticated lioness Elsa to the wild: the lion cubs are cute, the Scope wildlife photography still impressive and John Barry's score especially beautiful (the famous Matt Munro song was added to the end titles after the film was already on release. Where it shows its age is when the humans take centre-stage. At times Virginia McKenna can be a bit too head girl of the hockey school as Joy Adamson for a modern audience - while the Adamsons' real-life relationship was so tempestuous they spent much of their lives apart (Travers recalled that during filming whenever George was in the doghouse, Joy would treat him with equal condescension), their movie incarnations are so determinedly nice they make characters from Disney films of the 60s look like axe murderers. That said, McKenna and Travers are one of the few real-life married couples who make a convincing couple onscreen, bringing a comfortable familiarity to their scenes that smoothes over some of the more twee dialogue.

Its surprise success after a slow start led to director James Hill reluctantly being typecast on many of the slew of similar animal films that followed in its wake while his two stars started the Born Free foundation to release zoo animals into the wild. It also led to a very unfortunate sequel, Living Free, though none of the key players apart from Carl Foreman would return.

Not much in the way of extras - only trailers - but a good widescren transfer. February 16, 2008

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