Swiss Family Robinson

  • Adventure
2/8/1940
93

From the BEST "Best Seller" in Fiction History!

A family setting out for a new life across the sea is shipwrecked on a deserted island. The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the jungle environment.

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  • r96sk

    I thought I'd give this a watch before watching the Disney remake, given they are both on the latter's streaming service. I like 1940's 'Swiss Family Robinson', though there are many ways it could be improved upon which is what I hope the 1960 production does.

    This one, made by RKO Pictures, is enjoyable. The action sequences look decent enough, the acting is solid while the premise is very intriguing. I rate the film almost from start-to-finish, the moments which make up that last part disappoints unfortunately - the ending doesn't really make sense.

    Thomas Mitchell (William) and Freddie Bartholomew (Jack) are my standout characters, both of those two give good performances. Edna Best & Co. are all fine, though. It's with Best's char...

    June 26, 2020
  • Geronimo1967

    Based on Johann Wyss' tale and relying heavily on a wonderful soundtrack, this is a much more faithful adaptation of the story of a well-to-do Swiss clockmaker and his family who decide to escape a Europe beset by the Napoleonic wars and start anew in New Guinea. En route they are shipwrecked by a storm and have to make do on a desert island. They cannibalise what's left of their ship and start to make a new home with astonishing - slightly incredible - adeptness. The cast gel well, though as per the book, not without their demons. Edna Best "Mrs. Robinson" struggles the most as her gay society life has been replaced by a much grittier survival-based existence; the rather over-indulged boys are growing older, but not necessarily wiser (or n...

    March 27, 2022

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