The novel of Johann David Wyss concerning a Swiss Family who become shipwrecked on an island on the way to New Guinea has been done on the big and small screen all the way back to 1903. There's even plans for yet another version in 2009. This Disney version holds up very well even with the sometimes annoying presence of Kevin Corcoran as the youngest son.
The original novel had four sons and they weren't named Robinson as that is most definitely not a German name. As written in 1812 the only connection to Robinson was reference to another fictional hero who survived many years on a desert island, most of that alone, Robinson Crusoe.
One thing I've got to say is that these people with what they could salvage off the ship when they were wrecked were living pretty good, not hardly as primitive as can be. Yet parents John Mills and Dorothy McGuire who are actually kind of liking their little paradise are concerned about inevitable problems for boys without female companionship. As delicately as Walt Disney could put it about the facts of life.
Later on the two older boys James MacArthur and Tommy Kirk have occasion to rescue Janet Munro who is in drag as a boy from those same Malay pirates who who waylaid the Robinson ship in the first place. When they discover she's a girl those complications start rearing their ugly head.
When the final battle comes with the Malay pirates led by Sessue Hayakawa, it starts off as an A-Team like fight, but later turns into quite a battle for the lives of the family. If I were John Mills I might have given Kevin Corcoran to the pirates. This kid who's been one royal pain in the butt from the start, actually whistles to get their dogs inside the compound when the pirates land and as they're going in the opposite direction attracts them to where the family is, setting off the events of the climax. But a lot of people back in the day thought young Moochie was cute.
Other than Kevin Corcoran, the movie holds up very well, it's still a fun family film for families other than the Robinsons.
The original novel had four sons and they weren't named Robinson as that is most definitely not a German name. As written in 1812 the only connection to Robinson was reference to another fictional hero who survived many years on a desert island, most of that alone, Robinson Crusoe.
One thing I've got to say is that these people with what they could salvage off the ship when they were wrecked were living pretty good, not hardly as primitive as can be. Yet parents John Mills and Dorothy McGuire who are actually kind of liking their little paradise are concerned about inevitable problems for boys without female companionship. As delicately as Walt Disney could put it about the facts of life.
Later on the two older boys James MacArthur and Tommy Kirk have occasion to rescue Janet Munro who is in drag as a boy from those same Malay pirates who who waylaid the Robinson ship in the first place. When they discover she's a girl those complications start rearing their ugly head.
When the final battle comes with the Malay pirates led by Sessue Hayakawa, it starts off as an A-Team like fight, but later turns into quite a battle for the lives of the family. If I were John Mills I might have given Kevin Corcoran to the pirates. This kid who's been one royal pain in the butt from the start, actually whistles to get their dogs inside the compound when the pirates land and as they're going in the opposite direction attracts them to where the family is, setting off the events of the climax. But a lot of people back in the day thought young Moochie was cute.
Other than Kevin Corcoran, the movie holds up very well, it's still a fun family film for families other than the Robinsons.