Search - Treasure Island on DVD

Classic tale told in classy production

Stewart | 12/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(...)Who in the world actually thinks that a movie made from a book should include every line of dialog from the book? The beauty and art of cinema is supposed to be in the many interpretations of the same story/tale. Each director/producer team makes these interpretaions for themselves. Byron Haskin (director) and Perce Pearce (producer) have made a wonderful adaptation of the R.L. Stevenson classic tale.This Disney movie can be enjoyed by both children and adults. I personally have seen this movie as a child in the 1960's, as a teenager in the 1970's and yet again as an adult in my thirties in the 1990's and appreciate it now more than ever. Who says that a child can only be entertained by cartoon characters and silly songs? As a child I loved the adventure storyline and friendship between pirate Long John Silver and young boy Jim Hawkins.The quality of this film can be traced directly to the production team of Haskin/Pearce and indirectly to Walt Disney himself. All of the Disney films by this production team ( Treasure Island, The Sword and the Rose, Robin Hood and His Merrie Men and, I think, Song of the South) have the same beautiful stage sets with a look not seen elsewhere, rousing and thrilling musical scores by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, lush cinematography shot in the English countryside and excellent casting and acting. If the characters were not perfectly casted then there were certainly none that seemed out of place. Treasure Island has all these good qualities about it.And finally, this movie as well as the others listed were released when Walt Disney himself were still alive. After Walt died the quality of Disney fare became... uh.... well, one can see the quality of today's Disney with Eisner in charge. I'll leave it at that. I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think cinema like this will ever show up again. To bad! What a great treasure of a movie! (Pardon the pun)"

Walt Disney's first completely live-action film.

Stewart | Raleigh, NC United States | 06/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like so many adventure stories, there have been numerous film versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". Walt Disney's 1950 live-action film gets my vote as the best version. Robert Newton, of course, steals the film as Long John Silver, but praise should also go to Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and the top-notch British supporting cast. This film has almost nothing that is mostly associated with Disney movies, including no songs or funny characters, but that doesn't bother me. I still love it, mainly because of the two main characters, Long John and Jim Hawkins, and the well-developed relationship they have."