Customer Rating:  
Summary: Well, shiver me timbers, another great pirate tale...
Comment: TREASURE ISLAND is a good example of Disney's way with live action when he began departing from his schedule of full-length animated features. His money at the time was tied up in the European market and he decided to make this version of the film in England with a splendid cast of actors and handsome use of Technicolor.
ROBERT NEWTON easily walks off with most of his scenes as Long John Silver, the man with the pegged leg and the parrot on his shoulder. Newton uses a malicious gleam in his eye to convey the cunning nature of his character but is usually a bit too theatrical to be completely convincing. Nevertheless, he's the focal point as far as the acting is concerned.
BOBBY DRISCOLL is very competent and well cast as Jim Hawkins and must have enjoyed the experience of working in a story like this with pirates and a stolen treasure map as major themes. He's fun to watch and inhabits the role with professional ease. No wonder Disney used him as the live action model for his PETER PAN, released a few years later.
Making a deep impression too is FINLAY CURRIE as Billy Bones, the man who gets his comeuppance early in the story. He gives vigor and flavor to his role, so much so that it's too bad his role couldn't have been expanded.
Summing up: Colorfully done with lots of realistic flavor among the sets and costumes, all photographed in lush Technicolor and given a sentimental but satisfying ending.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie, has aged really well
Comment: I saw this movie in the theater when it came out in 1950 and Robert Newton's iconic portrayal of Long John Silver has stayed with me ever since! Something made me think about it a few weeks ago and I was delighted to find that it was available on DVD, but with some trepidation because so many old movies like this have not aged well and disappointed on seeing again. Fear not, me hearties, this one is the best! I've had it 3 weeks and I've watched it 3 times already, even though I have 2 other DVDs bought at the same time that I haven't even watched at all yet! Exciting enough for anyone, and good family entertainment too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Treasure Island Rev.
Comment: Disney's version is pretty damm good! I have watched both versions back to back. I will still have to give the edge to the original (1934 movie). Would highly recommend Disney's version. Edge to the pirates in original, edge to Robert Newton as Long John Silver, edge to Jackie Cooper in original movie especially in closing scene, Bobby Driscoll does a fine job but Cooper is better where it matters. Overall I am proud to have both of these movies in my collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Baby Boomers' Delusions
Comment: There's something sad about we Boomers. It's this tendency to look back at mediocre 1950s entertainment (television, film, or music) and glorify it. Such is the case with Disney's "Treasure Island."
This was a Disney production, like so many during the 1950s, that was aimed at an adolescent audience, not the public at-large. It motors through the story with limited style and very little substance. I am not being facetious when I say that the old Classic Illustrated comic book provides more story depth than this film. Just compare the two!
One of the greatest defects is the failure to provide any of the set up which is an important part of the book and was treated in excellent fashion by the vastly superior 1934 version. Unforgettable characters like Billy Bones, Black Dog, and Blind Pew seem to make an obligatory appearance and vanish with little impact. Ben Gunn shares a similar fate. And Jim's mother doesn't appear at all.
The primary characters, with the exclusion of Silver, are little more than cardboard figures. Jackie Cooper might have been annoying in the 1934 film but at least he had some life and expression to him. Bobby Driscoll as Jim walks around wide-eyed and in a trance for most of the movie.
Now many of the "five star" reviewers rave about Robert Newton's performance. Did they actually read the book? Silver was a complex, violent, scoundral. In this respect, Newton partially fits the bill. But Sliver was also a con artist. And a key part of the tale is how he cons Jim.
The 1934 version has been criticized for Wallace Berry playing Silver as being somewhat warm and fuzzy. This is a legitimate point, to a certain degree. But in contrast to Newton's portral, Berry is much closer to Stevenson's Silver. Berry is convincing in his con, Newton is not.
Newton looks like a homicidal maniac throughout the film. It really stretches belief that educated adults would put any trust in him. More importantly, an adolescent the age of Jim would be in deathly fear of such an individual. Being frightened is not the same as being conned!
To be sure Berry mugged a lot and hammed it up. But that's what we could expect from Berry---and he made it work. Newton didn't have the same magic. He growls through his lines, and that incessant eye-popping makes you want to set up an appointment with your ophthalmologist. He mugged just as much as Berry, but lacked the talent to pull it off.
Of course, the core of the novel deals with the relationship between Silver and Jim. There's just not any chemistry in this version, particularly when you compare it to the way Berry and Cooper worked it.
Beyond Newton's vastly overrated performance, the Disney version lacks much the tension that was incorporated into the 1934 film. I've already alluded to the weak set up. Let me be a little more specific.
In the Berry-Cooper version, the appearance of Black Dog creates a dark omen, and a threatening Pew establihes an impending danger. The wonderful Lionel Barrymore as Billy Bones ties it all together. When the pirates do finally raid the Admiral Benbow, we are as fearful as Jim and his mother, who are in hiding as these cut throats ransack their inn. The Disney version just doesn't take us there. There are numerous other examples, but for the sake of brevity, I'll compare Jim's encounters with the pirates in both films.
In the 1934 film, Jackie Cooper is menaced and intimidated when in the company of these seadogs. There's even a very subtle suggestion of pederasty. It makes us feel uncomforable. In contrast, when Driscoll is threatened, we are not. The best illustration of the differences between the films in this regard is the way each treats Jim's encounter with Israel Hands. The earlier film builds to a steady crescendo before Jim kills the pirate. The Disney version does not.
To conclude, the Disney film is fine if you are either an adolescent or a Baby Boomer. It provides a quick, capsulized accounting of the tale. If you are looking for a more substantial film presentation of Stevenson's classic, go with the Berry-Cooper version
Customer Rating:
Summary: A classic pirate story, says I
Comment: The Robert Louis Stevenson characters will live forever;
Long John Silver
Black Dog
Blind Pugh
Billy Bones
Jim Hawkins
Ben Gunn
A wonderful story to find Captain Flynt's lost treasure
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