Born Free 1966

Born Free is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. The movie was produced by Open Road Films Ltd. and Columbia Pictures. The screenplay, written by blacklisted Hollywood writer Lester Cole (under the pseudonym "Gerald L.C. Copley"), was based upon Joy Adamson's 1960 non-fictional book Born Free. The film was directed by James Hill and produced by Sam Jaffe and Paul Radin. Born Free, and its musical score by John Barry, won numerous awards.
George Adamson served as chief technical advisor on the film and discusses his involvement in his first autobiography, Bwana Game (U.K. title, 1968), known in the U.S. as A Lifetime with Lions.[1]

The making of the film was a life-changing experience for actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers, who became animal rights activists and were instrumental in creating the Born Free Foundation.

One of the lions in the film was played by a former mascot of the Scots Guards, who had to leave him behind when they left Kenya.[2] The producers are also most grateful for the help received from His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and also The Game Department of Uganda.
Cast

Virginia McKenna as Joy Adamson
Bill Travers as George Adamson
Geoffrey Keen as John Kendall
Peter Lukoye as Nuru
Surya Patel as the Doctor
Geoffrey Best as Watson, a big game hunter
Bill Godden as Sam

The film also credits lions and lionesses Boy and Girl (siblings), Henrietta, Mara, Ugas, and "The Cubs".
The Adamsons tend three orphaned lion cubs to young lionhood, and, when the time comes, the two largest are sent to the Rotterdam Zoo, while Elsa the Lioness (the youngest of the litter) remains with Joy. When Elsa is held responsible for stampeding a herd of elephants through a village, John Kendall (Geoffrey Keen), Adamson's boss, gives the couple three months to either rehabilitate Elsa to the wild, or send her to a zoo. Joy opposes sending Elsa to a zoo, and spends much time attempting to re-introduce Elsa to the life of a wild lion in a distant reserve. At last, Joy succeeds, and with mixed feelings and a breaking heart, she returns her friend to the wild. The Adamsons then depart for their home in England; a year later, they return to Kenya for a week, hoping to find Elsa. They do, and happily discover she hasn't forgotten them, and is the mother of three cubs.

Directed by James Hill
Produced by Sam Jaffe
Paul Radin
Written by Book:
Joy Adamson
Screenplay:
Lester Cole
Starring Virginia McKenna
Bill Travers
Music by John Barry
Cinematography Kenneth Talbot
Editing by Don Deacon
Studio Shepperton Studios
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)

14 March 1966

(UK)

22 June 1966

(US)
Running time 95 minutes
Language English