The Last Lion

The Last Lion is a 1972 South African action film directed by Elmo De Witt and starring Jack Hawkins, Karen Spies and Dawid Van Der Walt.[1] The screenplay was written by Wilbur Smith, one of his rare original screenplays.[2] He used a similar story later on in his novel A Time to Die.[3]

Not to be confused with The Last Lions.
For the Churchill biography, see The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill. For the racehorse, see The Last Lion (horse).

The Last Lion
Directed byElmo De Witt
Written byWilbur Smith
Based onnovel Uit oerwoud en vlakte by Sangiro
StarringJack Hawkins
Production
company
Kavalier Films
Release date
1972
Running time
90 mins
CountrySouth Africa
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Ryk Mannering, a terminally ill American millionaire, goes to Africa on a final hunting expedition to track down and shoot a male lion. This lion has always eluded Mannering, who has killed more than 80 lions, and become obsessed with the animal.

Mannering hires a private doctor to keep him alive, and pays a local hunter to track down the lion. When Mannering ruthlessly kills a lioness with cubs, he infuriates both the hunter and the doctor. But he drives them mercilessly to hunt down the male. In a fit of delirium he kills his quarry – and then collapses and dies himself.

Poster tagline

"For one it will be the last kill!"[4]

Cast
  • Jack Hawkins as Ryk Mannering
  • Karen Spies as Doctor
  • Dawid Van Der Walt as David Land

Production

Smith had already written one original screenplay and this was a later one. However he eventually realised he disliked writing scripts and focused on novels.[5]

The film was based on a 1921 novel Uit oerwoud en vlakte by South African author Sangiro (a pen name for Andries Albertus Pienaar (1894 - 1979). The novel had been the subject of a plagiarism action by German author Frits Bronsart von Schellendorf.[6]

Release

Copies of the film are preserved at the National Film, Video and Sound Archives, Pretoria, South Africa. www.national.archives.gov.za

The film has been released on DVD in February 2011.

References
  1. "The Last Lion". BFI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  2. "Wilbur Smith - Worldwide Bestselling Author". wilbursmithbooks.com.
  3. "Wilbur Smith - Worldwide Bestselling Author". wilbursmithbooks.com.
  4. "7h941 LAST LION 5 LCs '72 Jack Hawkins, Karen Spies, it will be the last kill for one!". emovieposter.com.
  5. Vagg, Stephen (27 January 2022). "The Cinema of Wilbur Smith". Filmink.
  6. "Sangiro, Pseudonym of Andries Albertus Pienaar". Stellenbosch Writers. Retrieved 25 July 2016.


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