Run Wild, Run Free is a 1969

1969 in film

The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...

 film directed by Richard C. Sarafian

Richard C. Sarafian

Richard C. Sarafian is an Armenian-American TV and film director. Richard Sarafian has complied a versatile career that has spanned over five decades as a director, actor and writer. He is most popular for his film Vanishing Point . He is the father of: Richard Sarafian Jr., Tedi Sarafian, Damon B...

. The film was written by David Rook, based on his novel The White Colt. The film was shot on location in Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Plot

"Philip (Mark Lester) is a troubled 10-year-old boy who has been fleeing the confines of his family's home since babyhood. Like some wild animal, Philip refuses to be penned up. Even more frustrating for his devoted mother and more irritable father, Philip has refused to speak since the age of three. Run Wild, Run Free (1969), directed by Richard C. Sarafian, is occasionally graced with experimental, art film touches, as when, at one point the internal thoughts of Philip's mother (Sylvia Syms) describing her fatigue and inability to love her son can be heard as voice-over as they drive to a therapist appointment.

Out roaming the moors, Philip encounters the kindly, nature-loving retired Colonel (John Mills) who is deeply sympathetic to the boy's plight. Like the nature that surrounds him -- the film was shot on location in Dartmoor, Devon, England -- the boy is a creature of mute-impulse who must be patiently tamed and drawn out just like the animals he encounters.

The Colonel introduces Philip to the wonders of the moors: the newly hatched birds whose nests are tucked in tree boughs and the copious bugs crawling under the peat. A world opens up to Philip that expands triple fold when he makes the acquaintance of a wild blue-eyed white colt grazing on the moor. The child forms a deep bond to the animal, a creature that seems to understand him like no other. The experience is transformative, until the horse runs away and Philip becomes distraught. He is distracted by a pet falcon, Lady, given to him by a farm girl neighbour, Diana (Fiona Fullerton). Together Philip, the Colonel and Diana train the bird, revelling in its progress and ability to fly to them. When the bird is horribly injured through Philip's carelessness, all of the progress the Colonel has made seems for naught.

But the bird recovers, the white horse returns and the Colonel teaches Philip to ride. When Diana and Philip are out riding one night and become lost on the foggy moor, it seems possible that this could be their last adventure amidst the wild forces of nature."

Cast

Actor	Role
John Mills John Mills Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...	The Moorman (Colonel)
Mark Lester Mark Lester Mark Lester is an English former child actor known for playing the title role in the 1968 musical film version of Oliver! and starring in a number of other British and European films of the 1960s and 70s and in a number of television series.-Early life and film career:Lester was born in Oxford,...	Phillip Ransome
Gordon Jackson Gordon Jackson (actor) Gordon Cameron Jackson, OBE was a Scottish Emmy Award-winning actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs and George Cowley, the head of CI5, in The Professionals....	Mr. Ransome
Fiona Fullerton Fiona Fullerton Fiona Elizabeth Fullerton is a Nigerian-born British actress.She is perhaps best known for her role as KGB spy Pola Ivanova in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill and as Alice in the 1972 film Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.Fullerton made her film debut in 1969 with a role in Run Wild, Run...	Diana
Sylvia Syms Sylvia Syms Sylvia M. L. Syms OBE is a British actress. She is probably best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown , Ice-Cold in Alex , No Trees in the Street , Victim and The Tamarind Seed...	Mrs. Ransome
Bernard Miles Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century....	Reg
Paul Griffiths	Young Phillip Ransome