Starring: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald, Denis O'Dea Directed By: Byron Haskin Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Live, NTSC Label: Walt Disney Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 29, 2003 Running Time: 96 minutes Theatrical Release Date: July 19, 1950
Description: Ahoy, mateys! Come aboard the good ship Hispaniola and set sail in search of buried treasure in one of Disney's most critically acclaimed adventure classics -- presented in its original, uncut theatrical version! In his first all-live-action feature, Walt Disney has vividly brought to life Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless tale of buccaneers and buried gold. Authentic locales, rich color photography, and musket-roaring action set the stage for the stouthearted heroics of young Jim Hawkins (Bobby Driscoll) -- and the skullduggery of that wily, one-legged pirate of all pirates, Long John Silver. Aye, for the kind of excitement that only treasure and treachery can bring, there's no better destination than TREASURE ISLAND!
Amazon.com: Strap on your pantaloons and prepare to travel with Jim Hawkins and Blind Pew to one of the most famous fictional islands in history. Walt Disney's 1950 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling masterpiece has held up extremely well, with action and characterizations that feel freshly minted (although it's unlikely that the Mouse of today would sanction the high level of booze flowing throughout the picture). Great fun, with nary a wasted frame and, in the character of Robert Newton's much-imitated Long John, one of cinema's most boisterously crowd-pleasing villains ever. (Proving that you can't keep a good--er, bad man down, Newton would return with director Byron Haskins for the enjoyable sequel, Long John Silver.) Watching this classic is like having a flashback to some perfect Technicolor childhood. --Andrew Wright
A classic pirate story, says I 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
Robert Newton is great! Treasure Island is a great story and this is a very well-done movie. Robert Newton as Long John Silver is especially outstanding. This is a nostalgia piece for me, and I greatly enjoyed seeing it again after many, many years. Likely it would not appeal to the younger generation--no mayhem, sex, gratuitous violence, profanity, etc.
The Return of the Bottle From youth to age I cast in a bottle on the sea of time. The message is and was that Treasure Island was and still is my favorite live action drama from Disney studios. Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and Robert Newton as Long John Silver are every bit as mesmerizing as I remembered. This was not a "pieces of eight" experience.
One gorgious film! This is Walt Disney's first full live action film and it is a gem. It's beautifully filmed in Technicolor with excellent detail and is rather accurate to the original novel, unlike the black and white MGM film. Bobby Dricoll as Jim Hawkins is strangely American in a film populated by British actors, but he is an excellent actor and won a junior Oscar for the role. The scene where he is chased by the pirate up the mast is unusually dangerous and violent for a Disney film and I love that the danger in the story is not watered down in any way. Overall this is a beautifully made film that does justice to the source material.
A classic yarn and movie Let me begin by saying that I am not a fan of Disney movies--live or animated--made after their 1982 classic TRON. None of the subsequent formulaic bilgewater has any relevance.
Treasure Island was released before another classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by four years but is classic story-telling at its best. With their well-timed incidental music and Technicolor tropical scenery, Treasure Island delivers on almost every level. Robert Newton's portrayal of the pegleg pirate Long John Silver is iconic and set the standard for buccaneer speech with his semi-Irish brogue until Johnny Depp started the Jack Sparrow staggering style in a recent Disney pirate trilogy. (I am sure you know of what I speak.) Newton's Silver has been the gold standard that virtually all pirate actors have used, even the sea captains on TV's The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Perhaps the only detraction I can offer is the scrunched face of actor Bobby Driscoll, whose facial contortions as young Jim Hawkins fill me with concern that he is in desperate need of a trip to the toilet. It is unfortunate that, despite his success as Peter Pan three years later, he died an unfortunate death alone and broken.
This is a fantastic movie that children only exposed to pirate stories from Pirates of the Caribbean or Veggie Tales should be able to enjoy and treasure!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
