TO ME - this is what dreams are made of!Get up and go!
AN ELEPHANT CALLED SLOWLY is the last and least of the three Bill Travers/Virginia McKenna wildlife movies, following on from BORN FREE and RING OF BRIGHT WATER. It follows an odd template of having the two actors essentially playing themselves and recreating their real-life adventures for the camera, albeit in various scripted scenes.
Gathering up titles to view for my upcoming 900th review,my dad happily caught me by surprise,when he revealed that he had picked up the near-forgotten follow-up to Born Free,which led to me getting ready to find out how slow Slowly could go.The plot:Four years after filming Born Free, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers are invited to take care of a friends animal home in Africa whilst he goes for an operation.
Keen to return to Africa, 'Born Free' actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna accept an invitation to mind a friend's rural property in Kenya but are surprised when a trio of elephants join them in this offbeat follow-up of sorts to the iconic 1966 hit. While the film is laden with hit-and-miss humour (including a temperamental, rundown truck), 'An Elephant Called Slowly' is a curious exercise in defying narrative expectations with Travers and McKenna playing exaggerated versions of themselves who keep talking about their experiences filming 'Born Free'.
I was starting to watch this film, shortly after it started and liking nature fils, kept looking. I was pleasantly surprised, as the film showed the african nature in a interesting, quite personal and often funny way.
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