In Search of the Castaways (1962)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Jules Verne (novel)
Lowell S. Hawley (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 December 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Adventure

Tagline:

A Thousand Thrills, And Hayley Mills!

Plot:

The Grant children _know_ their shipwrecked father must still be alive. Didn't he send them a message in a bottle...

Plot Keywords:

Earthquake | Flood | Fire | Message In A Bottle | Cannibal Tribe

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Maurice Chevalier	...	Jacques Paganel
Hayley Mills	...	Mary Grant
George Sanders	...	Thomas Ayerton
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Lord Glenarvan (as Wilfrid Hyde White)
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	John Glenarvan (as Michael Anderson Jnr.)
Antonio Cifariello	...	Indian Chief
Keith Hamshere	...	Robert Grant
Wilfrid Brambell	...	Bill Gaye
Jack Gwillim	...	Captain Grant
Ronald Fraser	...	Guard at Dockyard Gate
Norman Bird	...	Senior Yacht Guard
George Murcell	...	Ayerton's Assistant
Inia Te Wiata	...	Maori Chief (as Inia Wiata)
Mark Dignam	...	Rich man at Yacht party
Michael Wynne	...	Crooked sailor

Also Known As:

Castaways (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

98 min | Germany:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-8 | UK:U | USA:G (1969) | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Hayley Mills made this film about about shipwrecked castaways two years after her father, John Mills, starred in Swiss Family Robinson (1960) also made by Walt Disney about shipwrecked castaways.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mary is pulled out of the snow, the snow on her face disappears and reappears between shots.

Quotes:

Jacques Paganel: An earthquake of the first magnitude!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jules Verne & Walt Disney: Explorers of the Imagination (2003) (V)

A 10,000 mile mistake

First of all let me say that any film with Maurice Chevalier will automatically get a look from me. Even though Hayley Mills was Walt Disney's number one star at the time, Chevalier's international status as a performer guaranteed him top billing. The younger cast members had a lot to do in keeping up with him.

Robert Gwillim who is a sea captain and father to Hayley Mills and Keith Hamshere has been lost at sea for many years now and who knows where in this wide world with 5/6 of it covered by ocean. But a swallowed bottle with a note that was found in the belly of a shark by scientist Maurice Chevalier sends the three of them in search of Gwillim's employer Wilfrid Hyde-White to finance an expedition to search. Said note leads them first to South America and then to Australia because Maurice misreads the clues. He did that a lot in this film, an occupational hazard with eccentric scientists.

This was the Magic Kingdom's second dealing with a Jules Verne story, the first being the classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Sad to say while In Search Of The Castaways has some interesting moments and in spots looks more like an Indiana Jones film, it does not make it above the juvenile level. Watching it today, I expected to see Harrison Ford ride in with bullwhip cracking to save the whole kit and kaboodle of them from villain George Sanders.

Maurice's first mistake took them 10,000 miles out of their way. It's not often one gets a second chance there.