Even Elsa's Cute Cubs Can't Redeem an Unnecessary Sequel

Elsa and Joy (Susan Hampshire)

Although Joy Adamson's book Born Free topped the bestseller charts in 1960, no one anticipated that the 1966 film adaptation would become a huge hit. With a British cast mostly unfamiliar to American audiences, the movie captured the hearts of moviegoers worldwide with its true-life tale of how Adamson and her husband raised a female lion cub and set her free. Adamson followed her book with several sequels about Elsa the Lioness and her cubs--so it was inevitable that a follow-up film would be made, too.

Released in 1972, Living Free opens with a lengthy recap of what happened in the first film (and even incorporates snippets of John Barry's Oscar-winning score). Born Free ended with the Adamsons successfully releasing the domesticated Elsa into the wilds of Africa. A year later, when they returned to the spot where they last saw Elsa, she introduced them to her three cubs.

Two of Elsa's cubs.

That happy ending, though, gives way to sadness in Living Free when Elsa dies unexpectedly due to an illness. Her hungry orphaned cubs--Jespah, Gop, and Little Elsa--start killing livestock belonging to the local tribes. George finds an animal preserve willing to take the cubs, but first he and Joy have to capture them. Their efforts to do that comprise the strongest scenes in Living Free.

As a sequel to Born Free, Living Free leaves a lot to be desired. Elsa's frisky cubs are adorable, but one never gets to know them. In the first film, we see Elsa grow up, bond with the Adamsons, and struggle to adapt to the wild. She was a full-fledged character whereas Jespah, Gop, and Little Elsa are just cute animals.

I can only think of one reason for the lengthy recap of Born Free at the beginning of Living Free: Without it, the 90-minute running time would not have been sufficient for a feature film. It adds nothing to the narrative and I think it's safe to assume that the majority of people who went to see Living Free knew the story of Elsa.

Composer John Barry won Oscars for his score for Born Free and for the title song with lyrics by Don Black. Apparently, he was too expensive or unavailable for the sequel. As a result, viewers have to listen to the cringe-worthy Living Free title song performed by Julie Budd. I had never hear of her, but she is still performing live shows as of 2018; here's a link to her web site.

Susan Hampshire as Joy Adamson.

The two human stars of Living Free, Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport, do what they can with their underwritten parts. I became a Susan Hampshire admirer fan after watching her fierce performances in the miniseries The Pallisers and The First Churchills. Alas, she seems miscast as Joy Adamson, whose steely determination to do right by Elsa dominated the original film.

Incidentally, the plot to Living Free is not from Adamson's book of the same name, but rather her third book Forever Free. There have been several other films about the Adamsons, to include To Walk With Lions (1999), starring Richard Harris as George. Diana Muldaur and Gary Collins played the Adamsons in a short-lived Born Free TV series in 1974.

Leonard Nimoy and Susan Hampshire are Baffled!

Leonard Nimoy and Susan Hampshire.

Plagued with psychic visions, race car driver Tom Kovack ignores them until he sees himself plunge off a cliff into the ocean--and wakes up drenched in salt water. Accompanied by psychic authority Michelle Brent, Tom travels to Cornwall to learn why he senses evil at a country manor-turned-hotel.

The guests at the coastal hotel include a famous actress and her daughter, with the latter undergoing a sudden personality change. On a dark evening, Tom follows the young woman down a treacherous path along the cliffs. A loose railing sends Tom (are you ready?) plunging into the icy waters just like in his vision. When a mysterious van almost runs Tom and Michelle off the road, the duo get serious about uncovering the source of evil.

Hampshire as Michelle.

Made in 1972, Baffled! is a 90-minute made-for-TV movie that doubled as a pilot for TV series that never materialized. Leonard Nimoy stars as Tom Kovack, having departed from Mission: Impossible after a two-year stint. British actress Susan Hampshire plays Michelle Brent in what was a change-of-pace from her other television work. She had already won Emmys for her performances in the classy British dramas The Forsyte Saga and The First Churchills. She would win a third Emmy in 1973 for Vanity Fair.

Neither Nimoy nor Hampshire take their parts too seriously. While their playful banter is amusing enough, it seems out of place with the rest of Baffled. One senses that the intent was to make a mystery with supernatural undercurrents similar to Gene Roddenberry's first-rate TV movie Spectre (1977). I suspect it was this incongruent tone--plus low ratings--that doomed the chances for a Baffled! TV series (well, to be honest, I also think the title leaves a lot to be desired).

Rachel Roberts as a villain?

For a telefilm, Baffled! boasts an impressive supporting cast. The standout performance belongs to Rachel Roberts, a one-time Oscar nominee for This Sporting Life (1963). As the hotel's owner, she channels Mrs. Danvers but adds an intriguing touch of middle-aged sexuality. Her fellow actresses don't fare as well in underwritten parts, with Vera Miles being wasted as the former movie star and Angharad Rees (Demelza in the original Poldark) relegated to a bit part.

Despite its shortcomings, Baffled! offers enough to keep one's interest for an hour-and-a-half. The rocky coastal setting adds to its atmosphere. There's a nice twist at the climax (though it's not too hard to figure out). And Susan Hampshire is always a pleasure to watch, even when she just has to be her charming self.

Here's a scene from Baffled!, courtesy of the Cafe's YouTube channel:

The Five Best Coronet Blue Episodes

Series star Frank Converse.

A former Cafe contributor wrote about Larry Cohen's cult TV series Coronet Blue back in 2009. The show's premise is brilliantly simple: a young man awakens in New York Harbor with no memory--except for the two words "coronet blue." Taking the name Michael Alden, he spends the next 13 episodes trying to unravel the meaning of that phrase, which holds the key to his identity.

Made in 1965, Coronet Blue sat on the shelf until CBS decided to "burn it off" in the summer of 1967. The network held the show in such little regard that the final two episodes were never aired. Still, it acquired a cult following over the years (as did the catchy title song, where you can hear on our YouTube Channel). Finally, in 2017, Kino Lorber released the entire series on DVD.

It was grand fun to watch it again and to see a very young Frank Converse as Alden. It inspired the Cafe staff to take this opportunity to list our five favorite episodes. By the way, the DVD set includes an interview with series creator Larry Cohen, in which he explains the ultimate meaning of "Coronet Blue" (you can google the answer, too).

1. The Assassins - Michael answers a mysterious classified ad and meets a couple who claim to be his parents. They welcome him lovingly back into the family--and reintroduce him to his fiancee! But are they his parents? And if not, what do they want with him? This absorbing episode reminds me of a later classic episode from Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner called "The Chimes of Big Ben." Actually, there are a lot of similarities between Coronet Blue and The Prisoner.

Frank Converse and Brian Bedford.

2.  A Dozen Demons - Surviving an assassination attempt on his life, Michael awakens in a monastery in New York City. He's befriended by a young man training to become a monk (series semi-regular Brian Bedford). When the men notice Michael's uncanny resemblance to St. Anthony in a stained glass window, they set out to find the artist. The opening scenes in the monastery are the highlight of this episode, which also features Donald Moffat as a rector. Moffat was one of many fine British actors that appeared on the series, along with Susan Hampshire, Denholm Elliott, and Juliet Mills.

Juliet Mills and Converse.

3.  Man Running - After saving a political figure from an assassination attempt, Michael attempts to reunite him with the daughter he hasn't seen in years. Michael finds the daughter (Juliet Mills), but then his house guest suddenly disappears. Like the best Coronet Blue episodes, this one keeps the viewer guessing as to which characters are good and which are bad. Juliet Mills gives a very appealing performance; it's too bad her film career never equaled that of sister Hayley. Juliet is delightful opposite Jack Lemmon in Billy Wilder's Avanti! (1972).

4.  Tomoyo - Michael recognizes an Asian woman from his past, but she claims to have never met him. Seeking to learn more about her, Michael enrolls in a karate class and quickly makes an enemy with one of the black belt instructors. Appearing long before Kung Fu or even Longstreet, this episode offers an engrossing look into martial arts. This was one of the episodes never shown on CBS.

Susan Hampshire.

5.  A Time to Be Born - The first episode sets up the premise concisely and provides viewers with the most tangible clues into Michael's real identity. We see him pre-amnesia in the opening scene before he's beaten up and tossed into the harbor. After a long hospital recovery, he assumes the name Michael Alden and sets out to discover what happened to him. A potential clue leads him to a young socialite (Susan Hampshire), whose father may hold the key to Michael's identity.

Here's a two-minute scene from the episode with Juliet Mills from the Cafe's YouTube Channel:

Cliff Richard and Susan Hampshire Lead a Wonderful Life

Singer Cliff Richard never achieved huge success in the U.S. despite scoring three top 10 records on the Billboard pop chart in the 1970s and 1980s. In contrast, he ranks as the third best-selling singles artist in Great Britain history--topped only by The Beatles and Elvis Presley. He also achieved movie stardom and hosted several television series in his homeland. Despite knowing all this, I wasn't sure what to expect when I recently watched Wondferful Life, a 1964 musical starring Cliff Richard and Susan Hampshire (a favorite since I saw her in The Pallisers a few years back). 

The nominal plot casts Richard and his pals as out-of-work waiters dumped in the Canary Islands after they cause damage to a cruise ship. Johnnie (Richard) gets a job as a stunt man on a desert "epic" being made by a washed-up director (Walter Slezak) hoping for a big comeback. As he romances his leading lady (Hampshire), Johnnie decides to secretly make his own movie with his chums as the crew.

Susan Hampshire.

By this point in his career, Cliff Richard had evolved from a rock star to a pop singer. His smooth voice wraps around the easygoing songs that frequently interrupt the story. The best tune--the spunky "On the Beach"--was the only hit from Wonderful Life, peaking at #7 on the British charts. However, the best musical number is "We Love a Movie", an affectionate ten-minute tribute to cinema that starts with Richard dressed as Chaplin and ends with he and Hampshire recreating a famous scene from Dr. No. Amid dozens of costume changes and numerous sets, there are clever homages to Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, The Jazz Singer, Greta Garbo, the Marx Brothers, Tarzan, Fred & Ginger, Shirley Temple, West Side Story and more. It's more entertaining than many of those clip-laden tributes shown during the Oscar telecast!

Cliff Richard as Connery and Susan Hampshire as Ursula Andress in Dr. No.

As a film star, Cliff Richard lacks the comedic charms of Frankie Avalon--but then Wonderful Life is a musical with a little comedy whereas Frankie's Beach Party films were comedies with music. Susan Hampshire, who would become a fine actress, relies mostly on her natural charm. She displays an agreeable singing voice in her duet "In the Stars" with Richard.

At 113 minutes, Wonderful Life (also known as Swingers' Paradise) overstays its welcome. The final musical number with Richard and Slezak seems especially labored. Overall, though, it's a pleasant 1960s musical and a nice introduction to the singing talents of Mr. Richard.

The Three Lives of Thomasina

"I made them what they are today--though I had to be murdered first."

Thomasina--complete with bib.

This opening line to The Three Lives of Thomasina is spoken by the title character, an orange tabby cat who begins her life with the MacDhui family in Scotland circa 1912. Thomasina belongs to seven-year-old Mary, whose father Andrew is the village veterinarian. Andrew still mourns his deceased wife and struggles to communicate with his daughter. As a result, Mary transfers much of her love to her cat, who eats at the dinner table and rides in the young girl's doll carriage.

Mary relies on her father for very little. However, when Thomasina is critically injured in an accident, she pleads with her father to save her cat. Unfortunately, Andrews is conducting surgery on a injured seeing-eye dog. He can only save one animal and chooses the blind man's dog. When Andrew euthanizes Thomasina--who "dies"--Mary declares: "My daddy's dead...I killed him."

Karen Dotrice as Mary; she also
starred in Mary Poppins.

Walt Disney made one of the best dog movies with Old Yeller and it's apparent that The Three Lives of Thomasina was intended as Disney's "serious" cat movie. However, there is a crucial difference between the two films. Old Yeller focuses on the unique bond between humans and canines. The Three Lives of Thomasina focuses on the relationships among its human characters. Thomasina provides her unique perspective as narrator (though I wish she had more to say) and serves as a facilitator. Ultimately, she is responsible for bringing father and daughter together and for introducing a loving person who can heal their wounds.

Patrick McGoohan as Dr. McDhui.

Patrick McGoohan is perfectly cast as Andrew, who masks his emotional scars with an icy exterior. Considering this is a family film, he's a surprisingly unlikable character for most of the movie. He is perceived as an outsider by the local Highlanders, but makes little effort to socialize with anyone but the local pastor and his housekeeper. He doesn't seem to enjoy his profession, confessing at one point that his dream was to be a physician. As for his relationship with Mary, one wonders if it deteriorated following his wife's death or was always tentative. He has no clue how deeply his daughter loved her cat, offering to get her a "wee dog" after the local children bury Thomasina.

The luminous Susan Hampshire
as Lori.

As for Mary, she disappears from the middle portion of the film, which picks up with Thomasina's "second life" with Lori, a reclusive young woman who "has a rare way with beasts and birds." The villagers dub her a witch, but seek her aid with ill or injured animals due to their mistrust of Andrew.  The film's second half explores the relationship that forms between Andrew and Lori, who has learned how to cope with her parents' tragic death.

Based on Paul Gallico's 1957 novel Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God, The Three Lives of Thomasina is a Disney oddity. The plot is more about the adults than the child or the feline title character. The "cat heaven" sequence, while intriguing due to its Powell & Pressberger similarities, seems out of place. The climax featuring animal cruelty in a circus also feels like it was lifted from another movie.

And yet, it's those very differences that make The Three Lives of Thomasina more interesting than routine Disney efforts like Big Red and Savage Sam. The cast is also first-rate and, like the superior Greyfriars Bobby, it captures the quaint charm of a small Scottish village and its residents. Keep your expectations modest and you'll be pleased you spent 97 minutes with this different Disney drama.

Walt Disney's The Fighting Prince of Donegal

Walt Disney began making films in Great Britain in the 1950s as a way to use "frozen funds." The studio had amassed strong sales from its products during the 1940s. However, Britain's laws prevented pounds earned there from being fully converted to U.S. dollars. Disney's solution was to spend that money on live-action films such as Treasure Island (1950), The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), and The Sword and the Rose (1953). These films had the added benefit of costing less and being quicker to produce than Disney's full-length animated movies.

The Disney studio still had a strong presence in Great Britain when it made The Fighting Prince of Donegal in 1966. This fact-based tale traces the exploits of Hugh O'Donnell (Peter McEnery), a 16th century prince intent on uniting the clans of Ireland against Queen Elizabeth. After convincing one of the strongest rival clans to join him, Hugh gets captured by the English and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. He escapes, gets captured, escapes again, and goes on to rally the Irish to a small, but significant victory over the English troops.

McEnery in one of the fighting scenes.

Based on the 1957 novel Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal by Robert T. Reilly, The Fighting Prince of Donegal is a partially accurate depiction of history. The real Hugh O'Donnell was fifteen when he was thrown into prison (while Peter McEnery was 26 when he played the role). O'Donnell did indeed escape from Dublin Castle twice and went on to fight several battles against the English. However, Disney's film ignores the political infighting among the clans and Hugh's later role in the Nine Years' War and his most famous victory at the Battle of Curlew Pass.

As a historical action film, The Fighting Prince of Donegal comes across as solid, but without generating any tangible excitement. Part of the blame goes to its lightweight star Peter McEnery, who first gained film fame as Boy Barrett in 1961's then-controversial Victim. McEnery certainly looks the part of a fighting prince, but he can't project the passion required for the role (especially in a key scene where he must convince the other clans to join him).

The luminous Hampshire.

In contrast, the rest of the cast consists of some of my favorite British performers of that period: Susan Hampshire (The Forsyte Saga, The Pallisers) as McEnery's love interest; Gordon Jackson (Hudson from Upstairs, Downstairs) as the villainous Captain Leeds; Andrew Keir (Professor Quatermass in Quatermass and the Pit) as one of the clan leaders; and Tom Adams (Charles Vine in a pair of spy film capers) and Donal McCann (The Pallisers) as Hugh's mates. Unfortunately, except for Jackson, most of these marvelous performers have little to do.

Still, their presence plus some colorful scenery make The Fighting Prince of Donegal a pleasant way to spend 112 minutes. It's just a shame that Disney missed the opportunity to produce a first-rate historical yarn about a lesser known, but interesting, figure in Irish history.