Born Free of three cubs. The Adamsons made an agreement not to handle the cubs, in contrast to the way they did with Elsa. The film's credits list lions and lionesses Boy, Girl, Henrietta, Mara, Ugas, and "the Cubs". The film reunited the real life couple Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna as a couple first seen together in "The Smallest Show on Earth" in 1957. George Adamson served as chief technical advisor on the film and discusses his involvement in his first autobiography, "Bwana Game" (UK title, 1968), known in the US as "A Lifetime with Lions". According to Ben Mankiewicz, who
Born Free introduces the film on Turner Classic Movies, the production unit mainly used wild lions. 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. The producers also acknowledged the help received from Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Game Department of Uganda. "Born Free" received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten