Movie Type: Sea Adventure, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Pirates, Treasure Hunts
Main Cast: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Otto Kruger, Lewis Stone
Release Year: 1934
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This fifth film version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island boasts an all-star MGM cast, headed by Wallace Beery as Long John Silver and Jackie Cooper as Jim Hawkins. The screenplay, by John Lee Mahin, John Howard Lawson and Leonard Praskins, remains faithful to the Stevenson original...up to a point. The story begins when drunken old sea dog Billy Bones (Lionel Barrymore) drags himself into the seaside pub managed by Jim and his mother (Dorothy Peterson). After Billy is killed by the scurrilous Blind Pew (William V. Mong) and his henchmen, Jim discovers that the deceased ex-pirate carries a treasure map on his person. Together with Dr. Livesey (Otto Kruger) and Squire Trelawny (Nigel Bruce), Jim books passage on a ship captained by Alexander Smollett (Lewis Stone); their destination is the "treasure island" depicted on the map. Smollett doesn't like the voyage nor the crew, and not without reason: ship's cook Long John Silver has rounded up the crew from the dregs of the earth, fully intending to mutiny and claim the treasure for himself. A further plot complications awaits both treasure-seekers and pirates in the person of half-mad island hermit Ben Gunn (Chic Sale) who's already found the treasure and has stashed it away for himself. Towards the end, the plot strays from the Stevenson version in detailing the ultimate fate of ruthless-but-lovable Long John Silver. While consummately produced, Treasure Island suffers from overlength and a mannered performance by Jackie Cooper. Disney's 1950 remake with Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll is far more satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Shiver me timbers if it isn't Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island for the fifth time and with a cast that only grand old M-G-M could provide. It is also perhaps the most brutal version of all, what with poor Blind Pew (William V. Mong mercilessly run over by Dr. Livesey's (Otto Kruger) coach, and in medium close-up to boot. Director Victor Fleming pulls no punches and the bodies soon litter both the top deck of the Hispanola and that blasted island itself. Stevenson's lusty tale is of course created with the likes of Jackie Cooper, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, et al. in mind and in comparison to the featured stars such a seasoned ham as Nigel Bruce, as the squire, remains the very picture of modesty and restraint. So what if the screenwriters tinkered a bit with the text in order to play up Wallace Beery's lovable idiosyncrasies? And what does it matter if little Jackie Cooper is more suggestive of the hills of Beverly than the windswept coast of Wales? Treasure Island, by way of Culver City and Catalina, is still rousing good entertainment for children of all ages. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Rum-craving sailor Billy Bones (Lionel Barrymore) arrives at the inn of Jim Hawkins and his mother (Dorothy Peterson) one dark and stormy night. It soon becomes evident that Bill is a hunted man. Shortly after sundown, a blind man delivers Bill “The Black Spot,” a death sentence. Overcome, Bill later dies of a stroke, and Jim and his mother break into Bill’s sea-chest to recover what they are owed. Jim grabs a map and escapes with his mother before a small group of men break into the inn, looking for that very item.
Jim takes his discovery to Squire Trelawney (Nigel Bruce) and Dr. Livesey (Otto Kruger). It is found to show the location of the buried treasure of the notorious pirate Captain Flint. They decide to seek it out. The naïve squire leaves to hire a ship and crew. He does well in choosing a fine ship, the Hispaniola, and a trustworthy Captain Smollett (Lewis Stone), but makes a grave mistake in hiring one-legged Long John Silver as ship’s cook and allowing him to recruit many other crewmen. Silver is the leader of the cutthroats who broke into the inn.
As the voyage goes on, Silver tries to persuade the rest of the crew to join him; any who refuse to join meet with fatal "accidents". Finally, the island is sighted. That night, Jim overhears Silver's plot to mutiny while hidden inside an enormous apple barrel. Realizing they are now outnumbered, Captain Smollett decides to seize the ship if enough of the crew go ashore. Jim, though, sets foot on the island too. He wanders into the jungle, where he runs into Ben Gunn (Charles 'Chic' Sale), a little unhinged after being marooned alone on the island for years.
Meanwhile, too many pirates are left aboard, so the captain and his few trustworthy men go ashore to make a stand in Flint's old stockade. Jim is reunited with them there. The mutineers attack, but are repulsed, with casualties on both sides. After Smollett expresses his fear that Silver will have a cannon brought from the ship to blow them up, Jim slips off into the night to cut the ship loose from its mooring. He manages to part the anchor rope, but loses his boat, forcing him to board the Hispaniola. Luck is with him. The two men left on guard have quarreled; one is dead and the other, Israel Hands (Douglass Dumbrille), is injured. Jim grounds the ship at another spot on the island. Hands then tries to kill Jim with a throwing knife, but is shot and killed.
Jim returns to the blockhouse only to find it now held by Silver and his brigands. Silver had allowed Smollett and his men to leave in exchange for the map. The pirates want to kill Jim when he tells them what he has done, but Silver admires his spirit and stops them. They set out for the treasure, but when they reach the spot, they find only a few coins. As the disgruntled men are about to turn against Silver, Smollett and his men launch a surprise attack and kill or drive off the remaining cutthroats.
Jim’s disappointment quickly turns to delight when he goes with the others to Ben Gunn’s cave, where Ben has moved the treasure. Jim and the rest set sail for Jamaica, leaving the few surviving pirates marooned. Silver is imprisoned and certain to hang. While anchored at Jamaica, however, Jim "can’t stand it". He helps his friend escape in a dinghy.
.JPG)
