Living Free (1972)

Director:

Jack Couffer

Writers:

Joy Adamson (book)
Millard Kaufman (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 December 1972 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family

Tagline:

Elsa the Lioness was BORN FREE...Now her cubs are LIVING FREE - DANGEROUSLY!

Plot:

When Elsa's three mischievious cubs begin wreaking havok on the nearby villages, Joy and her husband are forced to move them hundreds of miles to a game preserve. |

Plot Keywords:

Village | Game Preserve | Violence | Game Warden | Fire

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Nigel Davenport	...	George Adamson
Susan Hampshire	...	Joy Adamson
Geoffrey Keen	...	Kendall
Peter Lukoye	...	Nuru
Shane De Louvre	...	Makedde (as Shane De Louvres)
Robert Beaumont	...	Billy Collins
Nobby Noble	...	Bank Manager
Allaudin Qureshi	...	Bank Clerk (as Aludin Quershi)
Charles Hayes	...	Herbert Baker
Jean Hayes	...	Mrs. Herbert Baker
Elsa	...	Herself
Jespah	...	Himself
Gopa	...	Herself
Little Elsa	...	Herself
James Kamau
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edward Judd	...	Weaver (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Couffer

Writing credits
Joy Adamson		(book)
Millard Kaufman		(screenplay)

Produced by
Carl Foreman	....	executive producer
Paul B. Radin	....	producer (as Paul Radin)

Original Music by
Sol Kaplan

Cinematography by
Wolfgang Suschitzky		(director of photography) (as Wolfgang Suschitsky)

Film Editing by
Don Deacon

Production Design by
John Stoll

Makeup Department
Jill Carpenter	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Sidney G. Barnsby	....	production supervisor
Eva Monley	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ivo Nightingale	....	assistant director

Art Department
Terry Greenwood	....	property man

Sound Department
Norman Bolland	....	sound recordist
Chris Greenham	....	sound editor
Gerry Humphreys	....	dubbing mixer (as Gerry Humphries)
Mike Tucker	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Couffer	....	additional wildlife photography
Andrew Gray	....	grip
Ronnie Maasz	....	camera operator
David Wynn-Jones	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Michael R. Sloan	....	assistant editor (as Michael Sloan)

Music Department
Sol Kaplan	....	conductor
Lawrence Ashmore	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Sieuwke Bisleti	....	assistant wildlife supervisor
Carl Foreman	....	presenter
Marion Gray	....	assistant production secretary
Noreen Hipwell	....	production secretary
Angela Martelli	....	continuity
William Roberts	....	assistant wildlife supervisor
Cheryl Shawver	....	assistant wildlife supervisor
Hubert Wells	....	wildlife supervisor

Thanks
Haile Selassie	....	the producers are also most grateful for help received from (as His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (present) (as Columbia Pictures)
• Open Road Films (II) (as An Open Road-Highroad Presentation)
• Highroad (as An Open Road-Highroad Presentation)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia-Warner Distributors (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1975) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Video Ltd. (1986) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Collection International (1996) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Djamed's of Nairobi  wardrobe & safari equipment by
• East African Airways  the producers are also most grateful for help received from
• National Parks of Kenya  photographed entirely on location in East Africa with the kind co-operation of, to whom the makers of the film wish to express their gratitude (as the Kenya National Parks and Game Dept.)
• National Screen Service  titles (as National Screen Service Ltd)
• Tanzania National Parks  the producers are also most grateful for help received from (as the Tanzania National Parks)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Studios, London, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Bill Travers and 'Virginia Mckenna' were asked to play the Adamsons again but declined.

Movie Connections:

Follows Born Free (1966)

Soundtrack:

Living Free

Forgotten and forgettable sequel

'Living Free' is one of those obscure sequels to huge hits that most people don't even know exist. In this case it's not hard to see why: it's pretty awful.

Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport make poor replacements for Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. While you wouldn't expect them to match the original couple's easy familiarity, these two don't look like they've even been introduced yet. Worse, the film is a clumsy mess, the first quarter a clumsy rehash of the first film mixing stock footage with awkward reshot word-for-word versions of scenes restaged by the new stars with all the confidence of a blindfolded kid with both legs tied together trying to hit a piñata (although you do get to see Geoffrey Keene play a scene absolutely identically to his performance with the more experienced stars a few years earlier). When the plot does get going in the last half hour there are some genuinely tense scenes as they attempt to cage Elsa the Lioness's cubs to take them to a new reserve before they are destroyed as a menace to local farms, but you'll probably have given up by then. It doesn't even have the benefit of Scope photography or a John Barry score to sugar the pill, often looking more like a poor TV pilot than a real film (and indeed a TV series did briefly follow, albeit with a new cast). Not good.