Hello & welcome back aboard and today, we continue our trek to Treasure Island. By taking a look at the 1950 film. This was actually the first live-action film from Disney and the very first adaption of Treasure Island overall.
Trailer
Trailer
Man, this trailer is awesome and really takes you back in time to the era that this trailer is a part of. I just loved this trailer.
The Plot
Now, I want to do my more traditional review style for this film as compared to the review of Muppet Treasure Island. We open in the year, 1750 in Cornwall, England at a small tiny inn, which remain unnamed but I do believe it to be the Bennbow Inn, but the only people we ever see there are young Jim Hawkins and Billy Bones.
And the film wastes no time as Blind Pew shows up and attacks old Billy Bones and I gotta be honest and say that this portrayal of Blind Pew was rather creepy.
After the attack, Bones gives Jim a folded piece of paper that turns out out to be the map to to Captain Flint's treasure and after the death of Bones, we meet Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey, where Trelawney decides that they should go after Flint's treasure and we later see them at a restaurant, they meet Long John Silver and from the moment that Robert Newton appeared onscreen, he just had a creepiness factor to him and he had to be out of the three Disney Silvers, the creepiest one. From the first time, Robert Newton appeared, there was something about him that felt off-kilter and creepy as if he were hiding a secret and that he could be unhinged at any moment and for the most part that works but there is one area, where I felt that was a detriment. I never bought the relationship between Hawkins and Silver as being genuine on the part of Silver. While, it was clear that Hawkins cared for Silver, I never felt the same was true of Silver.
Anyways, Silver goes on to say that he'll offer to help them find a crew and we later see that the crew are a bit untrustworthy and we later see Mr. Arrow, who I swear was barely in this version of the tale catching eye of one of Silver's men, George Merry and he has pistol. Arrow makes him throw it overboard and Merry vows revenge but Silver comes in and says that he'll take care of Arrow and makes him a dessert, plum duff. Which contains alcohol and everyone knows that Arrow loves his liquor and the next day, we learn that Arrow had fallen overboard and died. Man, this film did not shy away from showing stuff, you wouldn't see in a film like this nowadays. What was this rated? *checks IMDb* Hmm, turns out it's rated G. WOW! We cut to many weeks later, where Jim is crouched in apple barrel as he overhears the crews plan to mutiny and learns that they are Flint's men. And that Silver is leading them. Thankfully, Jim is saved as Land Ho is called. Jim takes news of the mutiny to Silver and Smollett tells Jim to stay friends with Silver. Ah, the old "keep your enemies close" tactic. And Silver has noticed that Jim has changed and that he has for all intents and purposes grown distant. This is when Silver offers to take to tow the ship to safer anchorage and asks if Jim can come along and Smollett agrees and this is where the action really kicks in as we see George Merry leading a mutiny aboard the ship but Smollett is ready for him and ends up locking up all of the mutineers. Meanwhile, Silver has taken Jim hostage at this point, and Smollett goes ashore after Silver, meanwhile Jim escapes and meets weird Ben Gunn, who had been marooned on the island by Flint, five years ago. Boy, wouldn't you love a prequel about Flint and his crew.
Oh right, man I wish I had Starz. Anyways back to this version. It was odd but this version of Ben Gunn, made me think of Gollum from Lord of The Rings.
Seriously, everything about this portrayal of Ben Gunn felt like Gollum from the little bit I've seen of the Lord of the Rings films and from what I remember of reading The Hobbit back in high school. And side note, I liked that book but when I tried to read Lord of The Rings, I found them to be disappointing and not as entertaining as The Hobbit but we aren't here to talk about that. But good ole Ben does prove to be helpful to our young hero to a boat that he had built and Hawkins uses it to go to a stockade, where he finds Smollett, Squire Trewanely and Dr. Livesey have taken shelter in. Meanwhile, on the Hispaniola, Merry has managed to take the ship but he stupidly lets his crew get drunk and when Silver catches wind of this and bluffs that he'll let Smollett go for the map to the treasure but the good captain doesn't bite and then Silver says that he'll him die. Hawkins takes the makeshift boat back to the ship and this is where things get intense as Hawkins while cutting the rope of the ship is discovered by the pirate, Israel Hands and as Hands goes to attack Hawkins with a knife and succeeds, Hawkins isn't afraid to use a pistol that Silver gave him earlier in the voyage to shoot Hands. And Hands is shot dead. This is rated G, why can't we this kind of action in a G rated movie today? Jim heads back to the Stockade but because of his wound, it takes him all night and by the time, he gets there, the heroes have already left while Silver and his crew are still there and unbeknownst to Jim, he sees Livesey's coat and asks the doctor to look at his wound but the man under the coat turns out to be Long John Silver This causes Jim to faint and when Merry sees him, he wants Hawkins dead. But Silver wishes to trade the lad for the map. The men go outside to vote and when they return, they give Silver, the black spot and Silver chides them for cutting a page out of the bible. Rattled by this, they let Silver bargain and the men are overjoyed until they discover the treasure isn't there. Smollett and his men then come in and save the day but Silver in one last attempt takes Jim and the others hostage but he rows off getting away with it. As he rows off, Livesey laments that he almost hopes that Silver makes it. All in all, this was a great film. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, I bought all of the actors in their roles and they were highly entertaining and the action was good.
Characters
Per usual, this will be broken down into Main, Supporting, and Villain. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Main Character
Jim Hawkins played by Bobby Driscoll
Bobby Driscoll was a staple of Disney back in the day and was one of the big child stars there starring in such films as Song of The South and he would later go on to voice Peter Pan. As Jim Hawkins, he was serviceable and likable. He did well, carrying the film as the lead and while, he's not my favorite Jim Hawkins, that'd be Joesph Gordon-Levitt in Treasure Planet, he was still highly enjoyable and brought a highly likable childlike innocence that made watching his growth in the film quite enjoyable.
Supporting Characters
Dr. Livesy and Squire Trelawney played by Dennis O' Dea & Walter Fitzgerald
Basil Sydney's portrayal of Smollett in many ways set the standard for what was to come as he commanded respect and authority on his ship and would not take gruff from anyone. The way, he commanded authority was admirable and just a joy to watch.
Ben Gunn played by Geoffrey Wilkinson
Ben Gunn, is a hard character to describe. I don't know if he was meant to be comic relief as that is the way, he's been portrayed in some of the other versions that I've seen but I don't think that was the case here. As he was crazy and it clearly came from being marooned on the island for how long he was and in a few ways, that was rather sad.
Villain
Long John Silver played by Robert Newton
Easily, the best part of this film was Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Newton's Silver is the creepiest and easily most deceptive portrayal made me feel uneasy every time, he was on screen and as if you could never trust him. And that he would turn on anyone on a dime including Jim. And that is perhaps the only issue I had with this film because as much I like this Silver, I never bought the relationship between Jim and Silver in this movie as being genuine on the part of Silver. Newton was great at playing a villainous Silver but I just think that Tim Curry and Brian Murray did a better job of conveying that Silver truly cared for Jim. This is really the only complaint, I have against the movie and it's minor at best. Also of interest, Robert Newton would reprise his role of Long John Silver in non-Disney sequel and TV series.
My Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this film and thought it was a blast. And it was nice to see the first adaption of Treasure Island and this was just a very enjoyable film that appears to be very faithful and the actors were all a joy to watch, especially Robert Newton as Long John Silver. I highly recommend this film as it is just really good. Join me tomorrow as I pit Kevin Bishop, and Joesph Gordon-Levitt against each other in a Vs. of Jim Hawkins. I'm not including Bobby Driscoll because to me, while not bad is the most least interesting Hawkins. Join me tomorrow for that Vs.
No comments:
Post a Comment