Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion
Combining jungle adventures with slapstick comedy, Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion was an African safari for the whole family.
At the start of the film, Dr. Marsh Tracy, head of an animal
behavior research center, travels to East Africa with his daughter
Paula. While there, Dr. Tracy captures a lion whose crossed eyes have
made it impossible to hunt for food. The great cat turns out to be a
real sweetie, and Paula adopts him as her own, naming him Clarence.
Dr. Tracy himself is also captured (the heart part of him, at
least) by the lovely anthropologist Julie Harper, who is studying
gorilla life. The human/animal foursome start to bond into an
unorthodox family, but a band of mercenaries interrupts their happiness
when they show up to poach the gorillas. Thankfully, Clarence is still
a lion at heart, and the king of the jungle gets a chance to earn his
keep in the family’s defense.
Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion was only a modest success in
theaters, but the lion and his adopted family found a more welcome home
on the small screen. The film served as the basis for the popular CBS
television series, Daktari, which ran from 1966-1969.
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