Python Hyena Treasure Island (1950): Dir: Byron Haskin / Cast: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Walter Fitzgerald, Denis O'Dea, Basil Sydney: Extraordinary family adventure that seems to symbolize or reference friendship. Young Jim Hawkins possesses the map to a treasure and is captained by Flint and accompanied by Dr. Livesey and legendary Long John Silver, the one-legged pirate. What is curious is the relationship between Hawkins and Silver that is boarded upon betrayal and regret. Director Byron Haskin is backed by great production and lavish island footage with suspense aboard the ship as conflict issues. It contains much action to ignite the imagination of its intended audience. Robert Newton is the ideal Silver, both ruthless yet endearing as he spares Hawkins. Bobby Driscoll plays the young resourceful Hawkins who witnesses much and will understand sacrifice and the value of friendship. Among other roles are Walter Fitzgerald as Squire and Denis O'Dea as Dr. Livesey. They both accompany Hawkins and become involve in seeking treasure and survival. Basil Sydney is cast as Captain Smollet who will lead the quest at hand. It is almost a character study when Silver's motives are examined. At one end he is a criminal of selfish means but his handling of Hawkins proves that perhaps he is not totally cruel. The final scene is joyous and rewarding. Score: 10 / 10

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- 1950, A boy and his mother have a country inn on the ocean cliffs. An old sailor moves into the inn and is dying. He befriends the son of the inn keeper with is stories of living on ships. One night a strange blind man arrives and marks the old sailor for death from a pirate brotherhood with the 'Black Spot'. During a cutlass fight, the boy finds a treasure map in the sea chest of the dying sailor. He takes the map to the local authorities that know about it and set up a ship and crew to find the treasure. Once the ship, 'Hispaniola' leaves the port with mostly a secret pirate crew aboard; they arrive at the Treasure Island. The crew takes over the ship and attacks the obedient crew members trying to get the treasure for them. A marooned sailor helps the obedient crew members to find and stow the hidden treasure aboard the ship to go back to England for justice. 'Long' John Silver shows that he is an able conman, pirate, liar, double-crosser, and schemer through this whole treasure hunting experience.*Special Stars- Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton *Theme- Men will look for treasure even if they suffer for it.*Based on- Robert Louise Stevenson's famous pirate novel*Trivia/location/goofs- A vivid lush Disney version of the classic pirate novel with the harsh violence removed for the 1975 re-release. The ending is much different from the books climax.*Emotion- An enjoyable, but heavily censored story that became a Disney classic. This film doomed and type cast Robert Newton into a less than stellar acting career in playing only pirates roles for him. This film leads to Newton's less memorable 50's TV show.

param_sukhadia I'm not sure if this is the cinematic version which best captures the ethos of Robert Louis Stevenson's book, but it is the version which provides the best movie experience for the viewer, and probably the film that most people think of whenever some one mentions Treasure Island. Wallace Beery is always worth watching, and his black and white version has many strong points, but he never quite convinces me that he is the black hearted devil who is second only to Captain Flint himself in his cruelty. The Charlton Heston version has the advantage of a wonderful Chieftains soundtrack, and some richer production values than were possible in 1954, but somehow Heston never comes across as the kind of man who could weld a band of misfits, convicts, perverts, murderers and general misanthropes into a functioning pirate crew. Robert Newton, however, is the definitive Long John Silver. I saw this flick fifty years ago, when it was first run in the theaters, and it left an indelible impression in my memory. (apparently it also impressed Richard Dreyfuss, who does an homage to Newton's Long John in 'Jaws'). The last time I viewed it was probably about ten years ago when my youngest child was still a pre-teen, and Newton's performance as the quintessential rogue who can slit your throat without a qualm while you are laughing at one of his jokes was just as impressive to me when I was 50 as when I was 10. The story is a little long in the tooth, but the key points, such as the delivery of the black spot by Blind Pew, and the recapture of the Hispaniola, are still tense and exciting, even to a generation weaned on Stargate and Spiderman. The apple barrel scene with young Jim trying to avoid being skewered by Silver's knife made my kids scream, and what more can you ask from a kid's movie than a good, safe scare? This is a must have movie for any serious video collection.

TheLittleSongbird Anybody who knows me will probably know that I am very fond of Disney. Not only their animations such as Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio and The Hunchback of Notre Dame but also their live action films especially Mary Poppins and Old Yeller. While it was still enjoyable enough, Treasure Island doesn't captivate me as much as the aforementioned did. It does have its strengths but it has its weaknesses too.Treasure Island's main merit is the performance of Robert Newton. I know there are people who dismiss Newton as being hammy, I thought so myself initially, but when I revisited it I realised I liked Newton's performance this time around because he was on the hammy side. His swagger, his eyes, his charismatic presence, while it is not my favourite performance of his(Bill Sikes in David Lean's Oliver Twist is my favourite) I thoroughly enjoyed his turn as Long John here. Another strength is the locations, sets and costumes. They are very colourful and lavish, while the cinematography is also well done and the ship itself is of majestic scale. The direction is good too, and I liked the dialogue, Long John for me gets the best lines and the story, while just lacking the magic of the book it was interesting and amusing enough.However, Treasure Island also has its problems as well as I have said already. For me the length was just right, for me the pacing was the issue particularly in the middle half I found it a little too lethargic so some scenes dragged. Also, I felt Long John and Jim's relationship could have been developed more, while the chemistry is there it never quite comes across as humorous or poignant, and any scene that strived to be any of those things didn't have that emotional impact due to the relationship not being strong enough. That is of course my opinion. My main problem though is some of the supporting cast. If I were to coin the phrase hit and miss I would give it here. Starting with the good, Finlay Currie is good as Billy Bones, though with an actor as good as he was I would have loved him to have played a bigger role in the film. Less successful is Bobby Driscoll. Now I have nothing against Driscoll, I loved him in So Dear to My Heart, liked him in Song of the South(wasn't quite so sure initially) and his voice work as Peter Pan is gradually growing on me, but he didn't convince me as Jim, and I found his accent distracting. I also didn't like Geoffrey Wilkinson very much as Ben Gunn either, for me any part on his behalf that was intended to be amusing fell rather flat, sorry.Overall, not bad in fact it is pretty enjoyable, but I just don't revere it as a classic. I think people may think it blasphemy, but I preferred the Muppet version. 6/10 Bethany Cox