User Reviews

There are two reasons for seeing The Lion. The first is for Pamela Franklin's performance as the twelve year old girl who has gone native as the British colonists used to say in every sense of the word. The second is because this gives today's audience an opportunity to view Africa as William Holden saw it and tried to preserve it.

The film may have been made so Holden had the excuse to stay at his famous Safari club which was a deluxe resort built in Kenya, partly financed by Holden. It was also a very large animal preserve and Bill Holden loved the place and took every opportunity to spend time there. Jack Cardiff who is the United Kingdom's most celebrated color cinematographer did some of his best work on The Lion as its director.

Oddly enough Holden casts himself as the outsider in the film. Years ago while he was making big money as a corporation attorney in the USA, his bored wife Capucine went on safari and fell in love with Africa and the safari guide Trevor Howard. She left Holden and married Howard taking her baby girl with her. Howard's raised her as his own and young Pamela Franklin is worrying Capucine now and she sends for Holden because of Franklin's behavior.

Pamela's companion is this full grown lion which she has raised since a cub and treats like a house pet. This isn't Clarence the Cross Eyed lion either, the male lion is fully functional in the wild. When Holden meets up with King as the lion is called, he gets a few anxious moments and appreciates Capucine's concern.

It's also possible Capucine is getting a little bored with life on a Kenyan game preserve as well, a fact Howard is becoming aware of. He does what he can to rattle Holden like playing tag at different times with an elephant and rhinoceros while the four cast members are in a jeep. The work is remarkably similar to the John Wayne/Howard Hawks classic Hatari which came out soon after.

The superb color cinematography of Africa plus Pamela Franklin's performance as a most disturbed child are the main reasons to see The Lion. It's not your usual kid's animal film, the child relates in an unhealthy way to The Lion and the adults have some very adult issues as well.

The Lion is your only real chance to see and appreciate the Africa that William Holden loved and tried to preserve, don't pass up an opportunity.

In Kenya, a little girl (Pamela Franklin) lives really the African nature by befriending a fully grown lion and following native rites , as her mother (Capucine) , worried that her daughter may be turning into a savage , summons Tina's American father (William Holden) to help to return her to domesticity and the States (Conneticut) and as attempt to civilise this wild chid . Meanwhile, her veteran hunter stepfather (Trevor Howard) believes this is a marvellous environment for her to grow up in and her mom becomes increasingly concerned by her behaviour . Two Men Obsessed By a Woman Who Desired Them Both..."He'd tear you to pieces if I gave the word."

A cross-eyed savannah drama with a lot of wildlife , in which a little girl allegedly turns a Wild Child and adding a triangular romance among Holden-Capucine-Howard . The plot is light and simple , as a free small girl named Tina lives with her mother and stepfather on a wildlife reserve in Kenya but things go wrong when comes her biological father along with his fostered one . Quartet starring are frankly fabulous . Capucine is very good as the mummy who attempts to bring Tina back to civilization and give her a civilized upbringing . William Holden is fine as Tina's biological father , who is called and invited by his ex-spouse to come over from America in the hope that he can take her back to civilization to civilise this wild child ; ironically , in real life Holden liked Kenya so much that he decided to live there . Trevor Howard as the game warden stepfather who has to swallow his pride is pretty good . But is Pamela Franklin who steals the show as the little girl Tina whose best friend results to be a lion and along the way she embraces local customs . Special mention for colorful and brilliant cinematography by Ted Scaife . Shot on location in Kenya , being sumptuously photographed in exotic locations in the best travelogue style . As well as rousing , impressive mussical score by Malcolm Arnold , incuding an attractive and enjoyable leitmotif .

The motion picture was competently directed by Jack Cardiff . This cameraman/fillmaker made a few films as Dark of the sun, The girl on the motorcycle, Sons and Lovers ,My Geisha, Intent to Kill, The long ships , The liquidator , The Mutations , but his biggest successes were as a great cinematographer . As Cardiff become impressed with the use of light and color in paintings by the age of seven or eight, and described how he watched art directors in theaters painting backdrops setting lights. His friendship with Edward Scaife who photographed splendidly this The Lion and Ted Moore led them to work as camera assistants in this period when both worked in a camera department run by Freddie Young , who would also become a legendary cinematographer . Jack worked for Alfred Hitchcock during the filming of The skin game (1931). This led to his operating camera for the first Technicolor film shot in Britain , Wings of the Morning (1937). He finally was offered the full position of director of photography by Michael Powell for A matter of life and death (1946), ironically working in B&W for the first time in some sequences. His next assignment was on Black Narcissus (1947), where he acknowledged the influence of painters Vermeer and Caravaggio and their use of shadow. He won the Academy Award for best color cinematography for this film . Jack certainly got to travel when it was decided to shoot African Queen (1951) on location in the Congo and in Africa also filmed this The Lion (1962) .

The real star of THE LION is all of the footage devoted to wild life animals, especially the scene where game warden TREVOR HOWARD takes WILLIAM HOLDEN, CAPUCINE and PAMELA FRANKLIN on a wild ride through African landscapes filled with wild animals in their natural environment and makes a game of tag look like a dangerous stunt. Unfortunately, that fifteen minute segment is the highlight of an otherwise "girl loves wild animal but has to grow up" kind of story.

PAMELA FRANKLIN is charming and natural as the girl with her clipped British accent and clipped head of hair giving her a tomboyish appearance throughout. She carries most of the film with a convincing portrait of a girl who has to grow up and find relationships with people just as stimulating as her love for an overgrown pet lion.

WILLIAM HOLDEN was still attractive at this time, maturity sitting well on his features and quietly effective as the girl's biological father who has been summoned by his ex-wife (CAPUCINE) to see what he can do about their daughter and her excessive interest in all things wild.

The color cinematography is a visual delight with stunning vistas of the African plains (filmed in Kenya) and gorgeous sunsets, but the story is on less solid ground than the photography and is pretty predictable once Holden's presence kindles Capucine's interest in a romantic way. Still, there's enough material within the slight story to hold the viewer's interest and a nice background score by Malcolm Arnold helps things along.

Anyone who grew up during the MY FRIEND FLICKA and LASSIE COME HOME days will be reminded that this is simply transference of a typical household pet to an untamed lion, but with basically the same story and before long, lots of deja vu settles in.

I was amazed by this movie I just discovered today, a movie I just heard about without never seeing it. It was never released in France since the sixties I guess. At least, never in DVD nor VHS. Anyway, I am always fond of those movies made in natural settings and telling beautiful animal tales. I am surprised that no comment has pointed out the similar feature called BORN FREE, directed by James Hill a couple of years later. Not exactly the same story, OK, but if you see the both in the same week, a while later you can confound.

I love both, with a maybe better score for BORN FREE. John Barry score. And through this movie, I saw a hippopotamus running in the savanna !!!

Jack Cardiff directed an adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's ' Sons and Lovers ' and got exceptional performances out of actors Wendy Hiller, Dean Stockwell, Trevor Howard and Mary Ure. This was I believe his best film, and although ' The Lion ' based again on a novel; that of Joseph Kessel is well directed and acted but too much time is spent in a fairly short running time of views of African landscapes. Many films in the 1950's indulged in this and I suppose Cinemascope demanded it giving permission for Malcolm Arnold to thump out one of his worst musical scores. But what time the narrative has left is well spent and the beautiful and rather sad face of Capucine held my attention by the nuances in her acting. The two male leads, William Holden and Trevor Howard are not outstanding, but good. Pamela Franklin supports the actors well, and her love for the Lion of the title was not as maudlin as it could have been in other hands. There is also tribal conflict, but it is a very white man's perspective of their country which I suppose was typical of the era, and they seem to be there not as individual people but just to serve the plot. Very much a ' man's film ' and Capucine rather resignedly looks on. The film is watchable, fast moving in ever sense but could have had more depth of character. I have never read Kessel's work ( he also wrote the novel which Bunuel brilliantly adapted for ' Belle de Jour ' ) so I cannot say if the film is faithful to the sprit of ' The Lion '. Worth seeing.

Supposedly a British accented heroine befriended a lion and now plays with him like a house cat, but despite putting on a show for her ex-father, having a superficial power over animals that comes with a British accent and short hair, the heroine clearly fears the lion and only plays with him because she knows men with guns are standing by.

This lion was more realistic than the CGI lion in Narnia (2005) because it was real. Unfortunately the lion was only in 10 hair raising minutes of it, in which the heroine rode on the lion's back, hugged the lion, and put her hand in his mouth, usually standing behind the lion's head of course. Would be fun to know if the limited screen time for King was due to the danger.

With today's technology, a good movie could be made about a computer animated lion raising a heroine in the wild, with tons of mane footage, but this isn't it. This lion was just a Mcguffin in a story about parents breaking up and British heroines following the wrong path.

On-location shooting in East Africa lends credibility to this mostly predictable family saga about an American lawyer who travels to his ex-wife's wildlife sanctuary in Kenya to see his estranged pre-teen daughter; turns out the youngster has become an out-of-control little creature who runs with the animals, in particular a full-grown lion named King. The wife's new husband, a former safari hunter, is threatened by the male intruder, while the ex-hubby is distressed over his daughter's upbringing (she displays an advanced education, yet her see-sawing emotions--much like her mother's--reveal a troublesome undercurrent). Just a year after her mercurial performance in "The Innocents", young Pamela Franklin once again does forceful acting work; her maliciousness is very mature for a child, and her glassy-eyed intensity is impeccable and scary at the same time. Still, it's understandable why this girl never became an audience favorite: her brash independence and wizened superiority is rather a turn-off for most adults (perhaps kids, too). In the grown-up roles, William Holden stays commendably in a lower key while chilly marrieds Capucine and Trevor Howard do their best to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Mixture of family dynamics melodrama and African travelogue isn't enthralling entertainment, although the cinematography is good, as is Malcolm Arnold's buoyant score. ** from ****

"Samuel G. Engel's 'The Lion'" the credits proudly declare (so much for poor old Jack Cardiff who actually directed the thing). The only film ever made reflecting Bill Holden's real-life interest in hunting big game features young Pamela Franklin fresh from her role in 'The Innocents'.

Miss Franklin plays another unsettlingly polite young little girl this time at the centre of two bizarre triangle dramas, simultaneously coming between a lion called King and his mate, and Holden and Capucine (the latter playing a high maintenance cow who airily dismisses Africa as "nothing but primitives and animals".

The scenes with the animals themselves are skilfully shot and edited, but Malcolm Arnold, bless him, supplies a score better suited to an episode of 'Daktari'.

Saw this when it first came out .acting was super, story line intriguing, sad thou . Have never forgotten it and enjoy watching it again and again

I was fortunate enough to watch this film in its original CinemaScope format (THANK YOU, Fox Movie Channel!), and I'm glad I did. Jack Cardiff directed a TERRIFIC cast (Holden, Howard, Capucine, and Franklin) in this story about a mother who sends for her daughter's biological father when she fears that the daughter may be turning savage, the concern being reinforced by the fact that the girl's best friend is a full-grown lion with whom she has an EXTREMELY close friendship. The cast is terrific, especially Franklin, who is both irresistibly charming yet downright scary when she really taps into the African way of life. The direction, performances, Edward Scaife's beautiful widescreen cinematography of the African landscape and Malcolm Arnold's wonderful score make this film great.

Beautiful West African animals, tribal culture and scenery in this horrible little film about an unfaithful woman played by Capucine. She apparently called her American lawyer ex-husband to come to the nature reserve that she and her new husband live on to help her with an unnatural situation with their daughter, Tina. You see Tina grew up with an orphaned lion who is now an adult released back into the wild. Tina is still visiting the lion and being very physical with it every day...for which her mother is worried.

Her current husband, Bullit, a British citizen who is in charge of the nature reserve...takes her ex out on a tour of the reserve where he intentionally riles the animals up to scare her ex in the worst case of male posturing that I have ever seen. What he did should be criminal and I loathe that type of penile measuring.

"I never worry about things like that. Worry can kill a man."-Bullit.

He did the animal taunting of Rhinos, Hippos, and elephants all in an open jeep with a woman and child. Negligent!

I would say not to watch this film if you are an animal lover.

"Even the baboons leave their sick behind."-Tina.

"It's my job to protect and respect the traditions of the tribes on this reserve."-Bullit.

The story is really about the love triangle between the three adults in this story and the child Tina is just an excuse. I guess the old adage really is true...once a cheater always a cheater.

"No card game can go on very long with two people holding all the aces."-Bullit.

I have looked and looked for this movie everywhere. I remember seeing it as a 9 year old and falling in love with King myself. I would love to see it again. I remember how beautiful the scenery was and how free Tina seemed to be as she ran through the jungle. As a nine year old I really related to Tina . She was by far the best actress in the whole movie. It has taken me years to find this movie by it's actual name and now I would love to be able to have a copy of my own. It is a shame that this movie is not available to purchase. It should be available on DVD so we can all share it with our children and grandchildren. It is a memory I will never forget.

The cinematography as you would expect of a Jack Cardiff is excellent when it comes to exteriors but surprisingly bad when it comes studio work. Abysmal process work and even some fringing.

One of the problems with this film is that Trevor Howard is never got one minute believable as the husband of Capucine. His alchoholism was already taking a toll on his features. There was a 15 year she has which looked more like 25 years.

.When this filmwas shown at my local Odeon they got the reels out of order,but nobody noticed until the lights went up and the manager got up on stage to announce this and offer to return out money.

I fell in love with this movie when I first saw it as a kid. I had the opportunity to watch it again recently and found that it was as captivating as I remembered it to be. However, what impressed me the most this time was not the story or the magnificent African scenery & animal footage, but this young girl's ability to play such a difficult role to perfection. Pamela Franklin (only 12 years old at the time I believe) stole every single scene out from under the film's big-name adult stars: Holden, Capucine and Howard. Her performance alone is enough reason to see this great drama if ever given the opportunity!

An interesting plot, but this film's best aspects include the wonderful African scenery and wildlife, and one of the very BEST soundtracks ever set to film. As I write this, six people have voted on it, herein, and the average rating is 9.2 out of 10! Yet, this wonderful film seems to be totally unavailable on video! There's something very wrong with that! THIS film should be in the stores!!

Although Jack Cardiff was a better cinematographer than a he was a director, he wasn't a bad director, and I believe "The Lion," along with "Dark of the Sun" are his best films. In "The Lion" Christine (Capucine) lives in Kenya with her second husband, big game hunter John Bullit (Trevor Howard), and her daughter Tina (Pamela Franklin) from a previous marriage. Tina has so taken to the African wild that Christine fears her daughter will one day just become an unreachable savage, so she contacts her first husband, Robert Hayward (William Holden), to come to Africa and help civilize Tina so she can return to the U.S. and live a normal, less dangerous, life. This idea is acerbated because Tina's best friend is a full grown lion she calls King. They grew up together and she spends most of her time in the jungle with King. She also believes King will do whatever she says, including attack and kill someone.

Of course Bullit resents the arrival of Robert, particularly since it becomes clear Robert continues to have feelings for Christine. The performances of the entire cast are quite good, if very much of their time. Franklin is especially good. She really does wrestle and play with the full grown lion on screen. It's actually quite remarkable to watch and apparently Franklin actually did bond with the animal. On the other hand, the love relationship that grows between Christine and Robert is less impressive, but Holden and Capucine have some effective moments, and the rebirth of their feeling for each other feels natural. So does the gradual changes that happen with hunter Bullit. Trevor Howard plays him in a strong performance that makes you dislike him but also understand his situation. He loves his step daughter and he does what he can to keep her in Kenya. One sequence where Bullit takes his wife, daughter and Robert on a wild drive through the African plain exposes his character. He purposely tries to upset big game like rhino, hippo and elephants in order to scare Robert by driving through the herds, taunting them. Of course this is exciting but annoying to watch because he's showing no respect for the animals. It almost makes you hate him, but there are more sides to him, and as the story plays out, we can't help but feel for him.

Woven through this story are two native tribemen, a chief and his arrogant son who will become chief when his father dies. This is actually well integrated into the plot. The stories of Tina and her lion King, Christine, Robert, Bullit and the two tribesmen all come together in an inevitable climax. Some viewers might see it coming, but I think they might be surprised by how it happens.

The score by Malcolm Arnold is one of his finest, full of thunderous drums and a beautiful main theme. It has a jazzy Gershwin-esque quality to it, which makes sense, since jazz is America's connection to Africa, an art form created by African Americans, and the story is about Americans' connection to Africa. The film is beautiful to watch, but be sure to see it in widescreen. The African landscapes and skies are stunning, and the scenes in camp during the character drama maintain a constant sense of place. You can be carried away by the atmosphere. The cinematographer was Edward Scaife, but the look of the film has Cardiff all over it. Try to find a widescreen version of this film, I think you'll find it a pleasant surprise.

This movie has many charms, but foremost is that of Pamela Franklin, an extraordinary young actress who went on to make some interesting movies, but disappeared from the scene many years ago, after making too many horror movies.

I remember seeing this film in 1962, as a child. I would love to see it again as an adult and show it to my grandchild. I felt it was captivating. The characters may not be totally believable, but performances are good, especially from "King" the lion.

Was it necessary? That's the difficult question that arises after the show is over and you have to count the casualties. Although a simple drama beyond all civilisation out in the wilderness of the bush, there are enormous complications here of relationships, involving even unexpected conflicts in a local tribe .- no matter how much you might admire films like "King Solomon's Mines" (in three versions), "Born Free" and other tremendous African local films shot on the spot, this is something more advanced both in realism, beauty and psychology. The girl, all brought up in the wilderness of Africa, loves a lion, and her mother (beautiful Capucine) is worried about her daughter's too deep attachment to her lion friend, and calls for her earlier husband from America (William Holden) to come and save her. Holden is totally alien to mentalities and local customs and the way of African life and of course makes matters worse by blundering, leading to the inevitable course of destiny, that nothing works out according to anyone's wishes. Trevor Howard as the wildlife warden somehow repeats or continues his role as wildlife protector of "The Roots of Heaven" and makes a splendid show of it. But the jewel in the crown here is young Pamela Franklin as the boyish daughter having her lion for her lover, and the film abounds in spectacularly beautiful wildlife scenes with no other disturbing whites around. This is indeed a treat for anyone who knows how to appreciate the necessity of man to recognise his belonging to nature.