The White Lions

The White Lions is based on a true story by Chris McBride entitled "The White Lions Of Timbavati". This pleasant outdoor story is brought to the screen by director Mel Stuart, who is probably best remembered for the 1971 classic Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. Although I don't think the story was written primarily for youngsters, Stuart directs it with a juvenile audience very much in mind: there are countless cute wildlife shots, the child character played by Lauri Lynn Meyers is given a heck of a lot of screen time, and the film's more serious and adult themes are largely neglected. For example, there's a subplot featuring Donald Moffat as a poacher which remains sadly under-developed; and the McBride's strength as a family unit is clearly tested by their differences of opinion (Chris is an outdoors-fanatic, addicted to his research, while wife Jean longs for the safety and creature comforts of home) but this aspect of the plot is disappointingly half-baked throughout the film.

University lecturer Chris McBride (Michael York) wins a grant to conduct a lion study in the African wilderness. He takes his wife Jean (Glynnis O'Connor) and young daughter Laura (Lauri Lynn Meyers) to his old birthplace and home, the isolated wilderness retreat of Timbavati. Here they spend a year getting used to a totally new way of life, living off the land and coping with the various natural hazards that Mother Nature throws at them. Chris is proceeding nicely with his study of lion behaviour when he discovers that a pair of ultra rare white lions have been born into the litter of the pride he has been observing. The white lions are starving as their mother is a poor hunter; but Chris cannot intervene to help them, as it would compromise the integrity of his work and the ruthless course of nature's destiny. They endure further complications when a poacher (Donald Moffat) is repeatedly spotted on their land, as well as young Laura contracting life-threatening malaria.

Kids will undoubtedly enjoy following the adventures of this family, but older viewers might find less to occupy them. It's basically a very similar story to the one told in "Born Free", "Living Free", and all those other stories where a family reject the big city life to take off into the back of beyond. York is quite good as Chris McBride - he generates a convincing characterisation, both as a nature lover and a family man who is in danger of loving Africa more than his wife and child. O'Connor is OK as Jean, though the character seems to put up with hardship and discomfort too tolerantly at times, which makes her less than believable. The location photography is very nice, though, and the titular white lions are absolutely adorable. There are certainly worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon than watching The White Lions.

My review was written in July 1983 after viewing on tv via HBO.

Lensed in the spring of 1979 and MPAA rated two years later, "The White Lions" is a mild family picture which failed to get domestic theatrical distribution and is currently providing pleasant tv diversion.

With educational value for the younger set, picture toplines Michael York as real-life naturalist Chris McBride, who with wife and daughter in tow returns to an African wildlife preserve where he was born, to study animal behavior. Easy-going narrative (with York voicing over lots of background material about lions and their habits) is short on conflict, the main issue being wife Jeanie (Glynnis O'Connor) wishing to go back to the U. S. and resume a normal, academic family life.

Ultimately she comes around and serves as still photographer, accepting McBride's dictum: "We gave up the creature comforts and gained the creatures". When they discover a cute pair of white-colored (but not albino) lion cubs, argument is between the femmes' desire to help them survive versus McBride's hard stance of non-interference. Da finally compromises (while maintaining a firm opposition to zoos) but the cubs' fate is hinted at by a heme song nicely sung by Maureen McGovern: "Enough to Let Me Go".

Lead thesps give earnest performances, with York balancing the preachy demands of his role adroitly and O'Connor a sympathetic helpmate/adversary. A corny subplot has Donald Moffat as a poacher aiming to exploit the cubs.

Wildlife photography is attractive but unexciting, with not enough integration of the actors and animal subjects (reflecting the dichotomy between second unit African lensing and principal filming at a Texas wildlife park).

Commercially, though wilderness adventure pictures have had a big family audience traditional British entries in the "Born Free" tradition such as "Living Free" and "The Belstone Fox" have not made a boxoffice dent Stateside, marking "White Lions as mainly of ancillary interest.

I have been searching for this movie for years!

I remember watching it over and over again when I was little. The storyline and scenery were both just fascinating to me. Michael York was perfect. His accent is hard not to love! This movie contained both comedy and drama. I liked watching the family get use to their new living arrangements. It also taught children how awful poaching is. It is perfect for all ages. The lion cubs were too cute.

I could still sit here and remember scenes from the movie, and I haven't seen it in over 15 years. I would buy it in a heartbeat if they ever put it out on DVD!!!!

Cannot believe this film is rated so low. I really enjoyed it and would like to see it back in circulation.Glynnis O'Conner and Michael York do and excellent job. I liked this better than the real sappy Born Free. The Lion cubs are as cute as it gets.

I loved the movie White Lions. I remember seeing it as a little kid, I was 9 years old. This movie had given me such a good feeling that I wanted to look it up the first time I got a computer, to see if it was available on VHS. It helped me to learn more about Africa and how the world should protect our wild animals! I would rate this movie an 8 on scale of 1-10. I wish this would come back in print! This needs to be shown to everyone! I would recommend this movie to the old and young! I remember the beautiful music playing my favorite was the end theme song by Maureen McGovern. If you like movie's with animals this is better than Born Free.