Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Lowell S. Hawley (screenplay)
Johann David Wyss (novel)

Release Date:

21 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Tagline:

THE ADVENTURE OF ADVENTURES! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A Swiss settler family are shipwrecked on a desert island.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Pirate | Desert Island | Treehouse | Tropical Island

Cast

John Mills	...	Father Robinson
Dorothy McGuire	...	Mother Robinson
James MacArthur	...	Fritz Robinson
Janet Munro	...	Roberta 'Bertie'
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Kuala, Pirate Chief
Tommy Kirk	...	Ernst Robinson
Kevin Corcoran	...	Francis Robinson
Cecil Parker	...	Captain Moreland
Andy Ho	...	Auban
Milton Reid	...	Big Pirate
Larry Taylor	...	Pirate

Directed by
Ken Annakin

Writing credits
Lowell S. Hawley		(screenplay)
Johann David Wyss		(novel) (as Johann Wyss)

Produced by
Bill Anderson	....	producer
Basil Keys	....	associate producer
Walt Disney	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
William Alwyn

Cinematography by
Harry Waxman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Boita

Production Design by
John Howell

Set Decoration by
Jack Stephens

Costume Design by
Julie Harris

Makeup Department
Eileen Bates	....	hair stylist
Bill Lodge	....	makeup artist
Charles Nash	....	makeup artist

Production Management
William Hill	....	production manager (as Bill Hill)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yakima Canutt	....	second unit director
René Dupont	....	assistant director

Art Department
John Hoesli	....	assistant art director
John L. Jensen	....	sketch artist
Peter Murton	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
John Dennis	....	sound recordist (as John S. Dennis)
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound recordist
Les Wiggins	....	sound editor (as Leslie Wiggins)

Special Effects by
Danny Lee	....	special effects (as Dan Lee)
Walter Stones	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Peter Ellenshaw	....	matte artist

Stunts
Ken Buckle	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Courtney	....	stunts (uncredited)
Evelyn Finley	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fez Reynolds	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)
Arnim Tardieu	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Beeson	....	additional photographer

Music Department
Muir Mathieson	....	conductor
Buddy Baker	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Paul J. Smith	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Walt Disney	....	presenter
Fez Reynolds	....	animal trainer: zebra (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Productions

Distributors

• Buena Vista Distribution Company (1960) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO (1961) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista Distribution Company (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Buena Vista Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Walt Disney Home Video (1988) (UK) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Company (UK)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1968) | Norway:7 (original rating) (cut version) | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:U | West Germany:6 | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Bacolet Beach, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

At the box office, the film took roughly $40,000,000 (around $367,000,000 in today's money), making it one of the most successful family films ever made.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the logs are released during the pirates' foray against the Robinsons, one of the logs rolls over one of the pirates, which bends slightly as though it's made out of rubber.

Quotes:

[trying to think of a way to get off the ship-wrecked boat]
Ernst Robinson: Why don't we put up a distress flag?
Father Robinson: Don't you think we look distressed enough? Ernst, anyone who sees a ship stuck on the rocks might possibly guess it's in trouble.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

MY HEART WAS AN ISLAND

a bit of 60s-era trivia

IMBD refused to post this in the "Trivia" section, so I'll add it as a comment: note that throughout the film, the men are often shirtless; however their pants and shorts are always carefully tailored to cover their navels, like Barbara Eden's harem-pants in "I Dream of Jeannie".

If you have access to the DVD, it is very well worth it to watch the special-features documentaries and interviews on disc 2. What the actors and crew went through to make this thing is incredible! The many animals used are mostly nasty and potentially very dangerous. That no one got disemboweled by a zebra or ostrich kick, or a tiger-claw, is a miracle; let alone the face-off scene with the hyenas! Wrestling an anaconda chest-deep in a mosquito and leech-infested swamp is probably not a role most actors dream of. James MacArthur was told by the snake's handler to just dunk the snake's head under water when it started to constrict him; apparently it worked, as he lived to tell the tale!