7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
This wondrous true adventure from the bestselling novel about a woman who raised a lioness and eventually set her free is beautifully photographed on the vast, golden savannas of central Africa. BORN FREE is a story of courage and love, nature and human nature, and a relationship unlike any other ever filmed. When game warden George Adamson is forced to kill a menacing lion and lioness, he and his wife Joy adopt their three cubs. Two are sent off to zoos, but the third is kept - a female they name Elsa - to which they have become particularly attached. When Elsa becomes a full-grown lioness, the Adamsons realize that she must be set free and taught to survive on her own. A year later the Adamsons return to the savanna and are surprised by a very special welcome from their old friend.
Starring: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Lukoye, Omar ChambatiNature | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Family | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Would there have been success for Born Free (the film) without “Born Free” (the song)? It’s a question that’s addressed, if not outright answered, in the commentary included on this new Blu-ray, and it’s a salient one, for the film is a kind of odd mishmash that is rather unusual in a number of different ways. Most people, including those who have never even seen Born Free, know it details a real life story involving an orphaned lion cub named Elsa who is raised by a Kenyan game warden named George Adamson (played by Bill Travers in the film) and his wife Joy (played by Travers’ real life wife Virginia McKenna). Elsa (along with her siblings, who are ultimately gifted to a zoo) is raised as something in between the family pet and an actual surrogate child, and there’s an indelible bond that forms between the Adamsons and the apparently sweet if occasionally feral feline. But when Elsa’s atavastic urges begin to make her more unpredictable, even threatening, the Adamsons are forced to confront an issue which really hadn’t been addressed in any meaningful way in a film story before: how to reintegrate a supposedly tame lion back into the wild, where she can hopefully prosper in her natural environment? Is it possible to “reignite” some kind of instinctual behaviors which raising Elsa with humans had apparently mitigated? It’s really a fascinating concept, and one which Born Free addresses with little artificial drama or histrionics. Add to that the kind of quasi-verité approach that director James Hill brought to the project, and the finished film was hardly screaming “box office blockbuster” when it unspooled around the globe throughout the spring and summer of 1966. But Born Free had an inherent marketing tool that probably did more to advertise the film than its trailers and/or newsprint advertisements did together—namely, the soaring John Barry score and that inimitable theme song. Those who have seen the film probably associate the Oscar winning song with British vocalist Matt Monro, who croons it in the film, but perhaps surprisingly his version never charted on the main Hot 100 Billboard listing in the United States, and in fact only rose to a relatively paltry 35 on the Adult Contemporary (or, as it was called then, Easy Listening) chart. It was actually pianist Roger Williams’ version, which offered both an instrumental and vocal verse in its somewhat hyperbolic arrangement, which cracked the Top 10 on the Hot 100 and ultimately made it to the very top spot on the Adult Contemporary chart. The mid-sixties were still a time when “cover” versions of tunes were all the rage, and there were several other top pop artists who performed their own renditions of the tune, including such heavyweights as Percy Faith, Andy Williams and even Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. In fact if you were listening to AM radio back in the day, chances are “Born Free” was inescapable in at least one of its many versions. (Interestingly, the only other Top 100 chart performance of the tune was in 1968 by The Hesitations, a quasi-soul R&B outfit from Ohio which offered a kind of gospel tinged rendition.)
Born Free is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Reportedly sourced from a new 4K restoration and scan supervised by the typically unimpeachable folks at Sony-Columbia, this high definition presentation is commendably organic looking. Considering how scenic much of Born Free is, it's not a particularly "beautiful" film, at least in terms of a glossy patina that emphasizes production values. Born Free has always had a somewhat grittier ambience, and that comes through convincingly on the Blu-ray. Some may need to take a brief deep breath during the optically printed opening credits sequence, which looks fairly rough, but once the actual film begins, there's a distinct uptick in clarity, sharpness and saturation, as well as resolution of the grain field. There are still occasional "baked in" issues, most having to do with what I assume were different sources at the time of the original filming, mostly to do with the "real life" nature photography. Some of these moments have a noticeably rougher look with more pronounced grain than the bulk of the presentation (see screenshots 16 and 17). Colors are not overly vivid, though look accurate. Depth of field is exceptional in several wide views of the expansive Kenyan countryside.
Born Free features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which may not provide a lot of width, but which is suitably deep, offering a nicely resonant accounting of especially some of the brass orchestrations at play in Barry's scoring. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, and the film's evocative sound design offering a wealth of ambient environmental sounds is also rendered without any problems whatsoever.
Anyone wondering if they still have the milk of human kindness running through their veins could do worse than to watch Born Free and see how big the lump in their throat is by the end of the film. This is an incredibly distinctive film that packs an unusually powerful emotional wallop. The fact that it manages to also deliver an important message seems almost like an unintended consequence at times, but only adds to the film's largely impeccable luster. This new Blu-ray offers great looking video and nice sounding audio and comes Highly recommended.
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