Watch Walden: Ballad of Thoreau (2008) : Full Movie Online Free Adam Lucky stars as American author-philosopher Henry David Thoreau -- best known for his influential Walden -- in this live staging of an original play about the writer's life, penned by folksinger Michael Johnathon. Set in 1847, two days before the author left his cabin to live in isolation at Walden Pond, the play includes dialogue between Thoreau and his close friend Ralph Waldo Emerson that was lifted from the pair's literary works.