Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Lowell S. Hawley (screenplay)
Johann David Wyss (novel)

Release Date:

21 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Tagline:

THE ADVENTURE OF ADVENTURES! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A Swiss settler family are shipwrecked on a desert island.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Pirate | Desert Island | Treehouse | Tropical Island

Cast

John Mills	...	Father Robinson
Dorothy McGuire	...	Mother Robinson
James MacArthur	...	Fritz Robinson
Janet Munro	...	Roberta 'Bertie'
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Kuala, Pirate Chief
Tommy Kirk	...	Ernst Robinson
Kevin Corcoran	...	Francis Robinson
Cecil Parker	...	Captain Moreland
Andy Ho	...	Auban
Milton Reid	...	Big Pirate
Larry Taylor	...	Pirate

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1968) | Norway:7 (original rating) (cut version) | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:U | West Germany:6 | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Bacolet Beach, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Among the Robinson's pets are: Duke and Turk the dogs, Rocky the elephant, Lightning the donkey, Clementine the ostrich, and Duchess the Zebra.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the logs are released during the pirates' foray against the Robinsons, one of the logs rolls over one of the pirates, which bends slightly as though it's made out of rubber.

Quotes:

[Reflecting on their island paradise]
Mother: It's wonderful for today, but what about tomorrow?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Living Seas (1986) (TV)

Soundtrack:

MY HEART WAS AN ISLAND

a bit of 60s-era trivia

IMBD refused to post this in the "Trivia" section, so I'll add it as a comment: note that throughout the film, the men are often shirtless; however their pants and shorts are always carefully tailored to cover their navels, like Barbara Eden's harem-pants in "I Dream of Jeannie".

If you have access to the DVD, it is very well worth it to watch the special-features documentaries and interviews on disc 2. What the actors and crew went through to make this thing is incredible! The many animals used are mostly nasty and potentially very dangerous. That no one got disemboweled by a zebra or ostrich kick, or a tiger-claw, is a miracle; let alone the face-off scene with the hyenas! Wrestling an anaconda chest-deep in a mosquito and leech-infested swamp is probably not a role most actors dream of. James MacArthur was told by the snake's handler to just dunk the snake's head under water when it started to constrict him; apparently it worked, as he lived to tell the tale!