Product Details

• Actors: Nigel Davenport, Susan Hampshire, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Shane De Louvre
• Directors: Jack Couffer
• Writers: Joy Adamson, Millard Kaufman
• Producers: Carl Foreman, Paul B. Radin
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 2, 1998
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303477275
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,237 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The 1972 sequel to 1966's classic Born Free doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor, but in an era when most "family entertainment" tends toward the insipid at best, Living Free is still a worthwhile venture. Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport take over the roles of Joy and George Adamson, the British couple who, while stationed in Kenya, adopted three orphaned lion cubs. Living Free finds the dying Elsa, their favorite of the original three and now a mother herself, returning to the Adamsons, who must figure out what to do with Elsa's three cubs, who develop an unfortunate appetite for domestic livestock. The film is on the slow side, but once again it's the animals who steal the show; the footage of the young lions interacting with other beasts, from wild giraffes and rhinos to a pet dog, is remarkable. Though light on bonus features, the DVD will surely find its adherents. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No Joy Here, July 25, 2005

By 

Sourpuss (Tucson, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Free (DVD)

The site of an immaculately turned out Susan Hampshire in thick eyeliner and gleaming white (flared) trouser suit prancing through the Serengeti should serve as an immediate red flag. This is about as far as you can get from Bill Travers' and Virginia McKenna's charming performances in Born Free, never mind invoking the real Adamsons, who led interesting and ultimately tragic lives. Doesn't seem much like Kenya in the fifties to me (I was there). Give it a miss.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten and forgettable sequel, April 5, 2005

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Living Free (DVD)

'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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pales in comparison to "Born Free", March 20, 2006

By 

Miss Kitty (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Free (DVD)

This is the quite dreadful sequel to "Born Free." It is intended for viewing by children, but even young ones will be bored with the extremely slow pace of this feature-length film. Were it shortened by two-thirds to about 30 minutes, it would be reasonably entertaining for younger kids. The acting is cheesy and very dated, and the plot plods along very slowly. There's nothing inherently wrong with the story, and the videography of the lions is quite charming, but it is presented so badly in this film that I would not waste a penny on it. Fortunately, I obtained my copy from the local library.