Forever Young, Forever Free
Directed byAshley Lazarus
Written byAshley Lazarus
Story byAndre Pieterse
Produced by
  • Ashley Lazarus
  • Andre Pieterse
Starring
CinematographyArthur J. Ornitz
Edited byLionel Selwyn
Music byLee Holdridge
Production
companies
  • Film Trust[1]
  • Milton Okun
  • Ely Landau Organization (uncredited)[1]
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • March 24, 1975 (1975-03-24)
Running time
85 minutes
CountrySouth Africa
Languages

Forever Young, Forever Free (original South African title: e'Lollipop[2]) is a 1975 South African drama film directed by Ashley Lazarus and starring José Ferrer and Karen Valentine.[3][4] The lives of actors Muntu Ndebele and Norman Knox are dramatised in 2011 unofficial sequel Canadian film A Million Colours, directed by Peter Bishai and co-written with Andre Pieterse.

Plot

A white orphan, Jannie, is dropped off at an orphanage run by a priest and nun in Lesotho, Southern Africa. The boy befriends another orphan, Tsepo, who is black. While playing with a tractor tyre, Jannie rolls down a cliff, severely injuring himself. During this ordeal, he has flashbacks to his parents dying. Jannie is evacuated to New York City via a USAF mercy flight, to have his kidneys operated on, due to his injuries. He has permanent renal damage, requiring him to take pills for the rest of his life. The local village raises money so Father Alberto and Tsepo can go to New York. At the airport, Tsepo is mistaken for a school student and lugged onto a school bus, before escaping the school bus in Harlem. Upon meeting a Zulu-speaker, Tsepo is taken to the police and reunited with Father Alberto, before reuniting with Jannie, and exploring New York before the two friends return to Lesotho.

Cast

  • José Ferrer as Father Alberto
  • Karen Valentine as Carol Anne
  • Muntu Ndebele as Tsepo
  • Norman Knox as Jannie
  • Bess Finney as Sister Marguerita
  • Simon Sabela as Rakwaba the Witchdoctor
  • Ken Gampu as Thomas Luke

Production

Filming for e'Lollipop took place in South Africa and New York City, starting on 8 July 1974.[1] It was the first feature film for director Ashley Lazarus (who had helmed documentaries previously) and television actress Karen Valentine.[1] e'Lollipop was one of eight planned inaugural features in the Children's Film Theater, a U.S./Canadian matinee initiative slated to launch in late 1975[1] as a counterpart to Laundau's own American Film Theatre program.[5]

Soundtrack

Forever Young, Forever Free
Soundtrack album by
Lee Holdridge
ReleasedNovember 1976[6]
LabelMCA[6]

The soundtrack for e'Lollipop was composed by Lee Holdridge. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's George Anderson wrote of its U.S. release as Forever Young, Forever Free, "A mixture of innocent-sounding pop melodies and African folk music...[this] pleasant album [is] 'dedicated to children everywhere.'"[7]

Thematic analysis

The film was "one of the few [apartheid-era productions] which imagined some type of friendship between blacks and whites...[but] did not [set out to] challenge apartheid ideology".[8]

Release

In its native South Africa, the original e'Lollipop was not shown in Bloemfontein theatres for fear of bans.[2] Universal Pictures picked up the film for U.S. and Canadian distribution as early as 31 August 1975,[9][10] then proceeded to re-edit and retitle it as Forever Young, Forever Free.[11] The revised version, according to Keyan Tomaselli of Cinéaste, "turned the well-paced pathos of a little black boy who sacrifices his life for his white friend into a soppy happy ending which negates the film's moral and racial parable."[11] Furthermore, its distribution in that market was mainly relegated to "the lower half of double bills".[12] In 2004, the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival amid plans for revived distribution.[2]

Reception

In June 1979, David Deneui of The Bellingham Herald gave the film 2½ stars, writing that "the simple story...could be entertaining family viewing."[12] In later years, film critic Leonard Maltin gave it the same rating in his Movie Guide, finding it "Entertaining, if a bit too sugar-coated".[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Amusements: Shooting Begins for 'E Lollipop'". Austin American-Statesman. 20 July 1974. p. 22. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 Jenkins, Elwyn (2006). "Famous Writers and Books". National Character in South African English Children's Literature. Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 0-415-97676-6. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (23 July 2019). "Ashley Lazarus, Director of Apartheid-Era Cult Classic, Returns to Screen". Variety. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  4. ↑ Peros, Mike (2020). Jose Ferrer: Success and Survival. University Press of Mississippi. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-4968-3017-3. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Wolf, William (24 November 1974). "Family fare: That's what Children's Film Theater will offer". The Post-Crescent View Magazine. Appleton, Wisconsin. p. 13. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 "MCA Releases 6 Albums". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. 1 November 1976. p. 9-B. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Anderson, George (1 December 1976). "The Soundtrack: Other recent recordings". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 13. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Botha, Martin (2012). South African Cinema: 1896-2010. Intellect Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-78320-330-7. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "Hoffman, Olivier marathoners". The Daily Breeze. Torrance, California. 31 August 1975. p. E11. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Universal Gets 'e'Lollipop'". The South Bend Tribune. South Bend, Indiana. 14 September 1975. p. 68. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 Tomaselli, Keyan (1983). "Racism in South African Cinema". Cinéaste. 13 (1): 14. ISSN 0009-7004. JSTOR 41686271. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via JSTOR.
  12. 1 2 Deneui, David (23 June 1979). "TV movie reviews". The Bellingham Herald. Bellingham, Washington. p. 2 E. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Maltin, Leonard; Sader, Luke; Clark, Mike (2008). "Forever Young, Forever Free". Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Penguin. p. 478. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9. Retrieved 3 July 2023 – via Internet Archive.
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