Treasure Island (1950)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

Lawrence Edward Watkin (screenplay)
Robert Louis Stevenson (story)

Release Date:

19 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Plot:

Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and...

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Long John Silver | Treasure | Pirate | Buried Treasure

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Bobby Driscoll	...	Jim Hawkins
Robert Newton	...	Long John Silver
Basil Sydney	...	Captain Smollett
Walter Fitzgerald	...	Squire Trelawney
Denis O'Dea	...	Dr. Livesy
Finlay Currie	...	Capt. Billy Bones
Ralph Truman	...	George Merry
Geoffrey Keen	...	Israel Hands
Geoffrey Wilkinson	...	Ben Gunn
John Laurie	...	Blind Pew
Francis De Wolff	...	Black Dog
David Davies	...	Mr. Arrow
John Gregson	...	Redruth
Andrew Blackett	...	Gray
William Devlin	...	Morgan

Also Known As:

Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:All | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:10 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:G (edited version: 1975) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1992)

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The featured performance of Robert Newton as Long John Silver is so iconic that it is thought by many to be the origin of today's stereotypical "Arrrrr"-laced pirate patois.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Throughout the film the frizzens were often open and the flashpans exposed on the supposed flintlock pistols and muskets, but the guns fired anyway. These were obviously stage guns, but as a factual point the frizzen must be closed on the pan and there must be a poof of smoke before a flintlock gun will fire.

Quotes:

Opening title card: If sailor tales and sailor tunes, storm and adventure, heat and cold. If schooners, islands and maroons and buccaneers and buried gold, and all the old romance retold exactly in the ancient way can please as me they pleased of old the wiser youngsters of today... So be it!

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Disneyland: Treasure Island: Part 1 (#1.11)" (1955)

Soundtrack:

Sea Shanty

If you liked "Pirates of the Caribbean", you owe it to yourself to see "Treasure Island"

I saw this film as a child and enjoyed it, but when I watched it again tonight with my children, I absolutely loved it. My two oldest daughters are big fans of "Pirates of the Caribbean." They immediately recognized Robert Newton's brilliant performance as Long John Silver as the inspiration for Geoffrey Rush's equally delightful turn as Captain Barbossa fifty years later. Newton steals the show with his characterization of the famous pirate, yet does so without distracting one from the story.

A half century has not robbed this film of any of its charm; it remains one of the great pirate films of all time. Grab a bowl of popcorn and fire up your DVD player. Treasure Island is the real thing!