Movie Type: Sea Adventure, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Survival in the Wilderness, Stranded
Main Cast: John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, Sessue Hayakawa
Release Year: 1960
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 126 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
None of the many cinemadaptations of Johan Wyss' The Swiss Family Robinson are as relentlessly enjoyable as this 1960 Disney feature. The film wastes no time getting down to business, with the shipwreck of the Robinson family occurring as the credits flash across the screen. Fashioning a raft, the family heads to a lush tropical island. While the mother (Dorothy McGuire) isn't too happy about being a castaway, the father (John Mills) and the sons (James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran) are thrilled at the prospect of carving out a new life for themselves. In short order, the industrious Robinsons have constructed a treehouse with all the creature comforts and "utilities" of their home in Switzerland. Later on, the little party is joined by Janet Munro, the daughter of a sea captain who has been captured by pirate Sessue Hayakawa and his band. After a series of adventures calculated to arouse the envy of every man, woman and child in the audience, the film comes to a rousing conclusion as the Robinsons resourcefully fend off Hayakawa and his pirates with a variety of jerry-built booby traps. A box-office winner to the tune of $30 million, The Swiss Family Robinson proved beyond doubt that Disney's decision to emphasize the humor and adventure of the Wyss original, while downplaying the sociopolitical undertones, was a sound one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the most popular family adventure stories of all time is this novel by Johann Wyss about a shipwrecked nineteenth-century family's survival on a desert island. Filmed on a low budget for RKO in 1940, it was redone by Walt Disney 20 years later in typically pleasing Disney style. Combining charm, suspense, and ingenuity, The Swiss Family Robinson became a popular and enduring film. It was produced in Great Britain and starred the fatherly British actor John Mills as the Robinson patriarch. Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran were among the young actors who used the film as a springboard to careers in film and television. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Basil Keys - Associate Producer, Julie Harris - Costume Designer, Rene Dupont - First Assistant Director, Ken Annakin - Director, Peter Boita - Editor, William Alwyn - Composer (Music Score), Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bill Lodge - Makeup, John Howell - Production Designer, Harry Waxman - Cinematographer, Bill Anderson - Producer, Jack Stephens - Set Designer, Eustace Lycett - Special Effects, Walter Stones - Special Effects, Danny Lee - Special Effects, Lowell S. Hawley - Screenwriter, Peter Ellenshaw - Matte Artist, Johann Wyss - Book Author
