Patricia and the Lion (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Patricia and the lion |
| Original title | The Lion |
| Country of production | USA / UK |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jack Cardiff |
| script |
Irene Kamp Louis Kamp |
| production | Samuel G. Engel |
| music | Malcolm Arnold |
| camera | Edward Scaife |
| cut | Russell Lloyd |
| occupation | |
| |
Patricia and the Lion is an American-British adventure film from 1962 based on the novel of the same name by the French writer Joseph Kessel .
action
Christine, who works on a wildlife reserve in Kenya, has her ex-husband Robert Hayward, an American lawyer, come for her ex-husband Robert Hayward, an American lawyer, without the knowledge of her current husband - the reserve warden John Bullit - because they were looking after their daughter Patricia (in the original -Version is called Tina) worries. The 11-year-old doesn't just look boyish; she feels drawn to the tribe of natives living in the neighborhood and maintains a particularly close relationship with the Lion King, whom she has raised since the first few months of his life and who plays with her completely safely even when fully grown. The rather precocious-looking girl is skeptical about the arrival of her birth father, and Bullit is not exactly overflowing with joy either. Nevertheless, the three adults come to terms at first, and one day Tina takes the American to King, introducing him in a remarkable way to his tame while at the same time having predatory instincts against strangers.
The first tensions arise when Christine hesitantly returns Roberts' advances with a kiss. Informed about this, Bullit is indignant; on a safari with the jeep through herds of rhinos and elephants, he steers the vehicle in such a way that the guest from overseas sitting on the loading area is really scared. A bad accident is more likely to be avoided by chance. But the problems are also increasing with the natives: The old chief was bitten by a lion and seems to be doomed to die. According to the customs of the tribe, he is therefore taken to a remote forest and left to die. Patricia and Hayward discover the old man by chance, and despite the pleading of the daughter and other objections by Bullit, the lawyer cannot endure this cruel ceremony - the vultures are already circling over the chief who is still breathing - and takes the old man to the reservation camp for treatment. Bullit's request to Hayward to start the journey home immediately is not complied with.
The chief regains his strength and appears surprisingly at a festival that prepares his son Oriunga for the successor. Oriunga is stuck in another dilemma because he is willing to make Patricia his wife one day. When his senior warns him that he can only become chief if he has killed a lion himself, he immediately chooses King as his hunting victim. The four whites, who - because they were invited to the festival - were eyewitnesses of this development, immediately set out to pursue them, and Patricia, who arrives earlier than Oriunga at the predator's well-known whereabouts, calls on King to kill the young warrior. A wild human versus animal fight begins, and when Hayward tries to get his hysterical daughter out of the danger zone, he gets a blow from the mighty paw of the lion, which - after killing Oriunga - is shot by Bullit to the horror of the girl. This act leads to Patricia's departure from Bullit and ultimately to acceptance of Hayward as a real father. Bullitt realizes that the love affair has finally turned out to be in his favor, and informs the headquarters in Nairobi that he is resigning from his post as the highest reserve overseer; he wants to indulge his true profession again - hunting. After all, he gives Patricia, who is now flying to Connecticut with Hayward and Christine, two animals as a farewell present, but in a clever evaluation of what has happened, he does not make a lion cub.
criticism
The lexicon of international films described the film as an "adventure film with captivating animal scenes."
The film magazine Cinema said: "Great pictures, but unrealistic."
background
The 20th Century Fox production premiered in the UK on August 19, 1962. In Germany it first appeared in cinemas on October 12 of the same year. In the USA, however, it only started on December 21 in New York.
The film differs from the novel in some important ways. This is the name of the daughter in the novel Patricia (also in the German version), the mother Sybil. John Bullitt is the real father in the novel, while the narrator has no family ties with the girl and mother. For dramaturgical reasons, the character of Robert Hayward was introduced for the film. In the novel, the girl leaves her mother with the narrator.
Web links
- Patricia and the lion in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patricia and the Lion. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Critique of Cinema