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| Born Free | 
| Directors: James Hill, Tom Mcgowan
Actors: Virginia Mckenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Omar Chambati
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $4.64
You Save: $5.31 (53%)
New (51) Collectible (1) from $4.64
Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 844
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time: 95 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D07751D
ISBN: 0767881370
UPC: 043396077515
EAN: 9780767881371
ASIN: B0000844M8
Theatrical Release Date: June 22, 1966
Release Date: March 4, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent remastering of 2003 DVD release May 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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!
A Real Tear-Jerker March 29, 2008
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!
 One of the all-time great animal films February 16, 2008
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.
As good today as it was 30 yrs ago (when I first saw it)! February 13, 2008
I watched this movie when I was a little kid and I wanted my kids to enjoy it as much as I did. And they did! They loved it! I didn't think I could find it, and to my suprise it was even on dvd! Yeah!!!!!
Call of the Wild December 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was trying to remember just why I never saw this film when it first came out--or subsequently when it might have been shown on TV--when it occurred to me that it was released in 1966 when I was 13, just at the age when I was suddenly less interested in "kids' stuff" like BORN FREE and increasingly interested in HELP or A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. But deep down, I had always liked animal flicks, and maybe even then--at least in the back of my mind--figured I'd catch up with this tale of a tame lionness, whose "human companions" attempt to re-train in the ways of the wild.
Viewing the film as an adult, I can see that I probably would have liked it well enough as a youngster, and can agree with the majority of reviewers below, that it is a solid, engaging "family film," and a pleasant alternative to much of the brash, jaded and bankrupt fare offered to kids nowadays. It seems pretty wholesome by comparison.
Like many family films of the era, however, it was also relatively low budget and not all that "well made" a product. The story is a bit on the sketchy side, and you can see the filmmakers making a very deliberate effort to compress the contents of Joy Adamson's book into a 90 minute film. One example that comes to mind are the references to Joy's husband's near-fatal battle with malaria. His initial bout is never shown, only referred to in a voice over by actress Virginia McKenna, who plays Joy. Well, fair enough, I figured, it's not that essential to the story of Elsa, the lionness, and it might be disturbing to younger viewers, so leave it out. But then, a later relapse is portrayed in pretty graphic detail. It seems to come almost out of the blue, and will likely confuse younger viewers who may not have seen it coming from the brief mention in the voiceover narration.
Films aimed at children, and their families, often seem to cut corners this way. In the case of a film based on real life, as this one is, there is also the question of just how much dramatic license to take. I never read Adamson's book on which the film is based, but it seems like the movie version must have hewed fairly closely to the text. There are scenes such as the "roving lion in the night" sequence that promise some drama--and some danger--only to pretty much peter out in the end.
If that's the case, the filmmakers are actually to be commended for not taking too many liberties with the text. But better direction, overall pacing and editing can help spice up scenes like these, ones where the action is muted, because in real life, the danger really did pass, or was not as great as it seemed to begin with.
None of this is meant to suggest that the film is not worth seeing. They really DON'T make 'em like this any more. Nowadays, Elsa would have had to engage in a battle royal with the roving lion that prowls around the camp at night, and the computer graphics would be dazzling but ultimately misleading. Parents and children alike will appreciate this film's slower pace, its implicit message on the reverence and preservation of the natural world (an even more vital question today than it was then). In an era when the need to protect and preserve wildlife and its habitat is even clearer than it was 40 years ago, BORN FREE serves as a reminder that there is much work to be done--but that it's well worth the effort.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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