The Belstone Fox (also known as Free Spirit) is a 1973 British film directed by James Hill and starring Eric Porter, Jeremy Kemp and Bill Travers.

Asher and Tod are fascinated by Tag, who combines cool cunning and knowledge of human habitation to lead the pack and hunters in many a "merry chase."

Asher sees this as disturbing and against the natural order of life, and determines to bring down the fox in the approved manner, rather than with a firearm, however he dies from a sudden heart attack while attempting to do the deed.

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An unhappy example of how not to adapt a popular novel, with a badly constructed script relying on voice-overs for explanations that could easily be included in the action and raising issues and sub-plots that are never pursued.

Characterisation is minimal (the actors coming a poor second to the attractively photographed animal 'stars'), and all the care and patience that has gone into the wild life photography is thrown away on an unconvincing plot.

Predictably, the film gets a lot of mileage out of being sentimentally anti-blood sports while blatantly exploiting their violence, and leaves very little to the imagination in the incident in which hounds are mown down by a train.

"[7] The Radio Times gave it two out of five stars, calling it a "workmanlike adaptation," adding, "Porter and Rachel Roberts acquit themselves adequately but the film ultimately impresses more for its wildlife photography than for its dramatic interest.

"[8] TV Guide gave the film three out of four stars, writing, "Porter is solid as the hunter who brings the baby fox to the hound for nurturing.

[11] The cover art for the 40th Anniversary Edition DVD includes the captions "The Original Timeless Tale of True Friendship" and "The Story that Inspired The Fox and the Hound", in reference to the 1981 Disney film.

There is the slight difference that the hunter dies from pneumonia after collapsing of exhaustion rather than a heart attack, despite the best efforts of both the fox and the hound to keep him warm using their body heat.