Treasure Island (1972)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Blistering performances.

This version may be one of the weaker versions of the classic story, it's nowhere near as good as the 1990 Charlton Heston or the 1934 Wallace Beery versions(Muppet Treasure Island is great too) but it is a long way from bad. And I really do have to respectfully disagree with the commentator who said that this was the worst Treasure Island, the uncomfortably bizarre 1998 Jack Palance version is by far the worst. The film may be lower in budget than most of the versions of Treasure Island, with some of the camera work(which can be too reliant on close ups though most of it is inventive and appropriate) and the handsomely rendered if very undersized Hispagnola it does show but it was decent compared to most lower-in-budget films personally seen, the shadowy lighting was quite effective and the locations are splendid. The script is amusingly tongue in cheek with some darkly tense moments too.The story is suspenseful and lots of fun on the most part with the storytelling at least coherent and structurally relatively faithful. The start of the film suitably intense and sets up the story well and the action is staged surprisingly well with a Spaghetti Western vibe in places. Some of the treasure hunting scenes are a little leisurely however and are slightly lacking in urgency. The acting is mostly good with Orson Welles giving the most memorable one, he can be charmingly sympathetic but he drips with evil as well, some of the performance is very fruity but I appreciated the restraint he gave the character here. Kim Burfield is an appealing Jim, Walter Slezak brings out the conflicts of Squire Trelawny's character very well- sometimes blustering, other times refined- and Jean Lefevbre an amusing Ben Gunn. Lionel Stander however is too gangster boss-like as Billy Bones and Angel del Pozo is a dull Dr Livesey.Where the film is least successful is in the music score and especially the dubbing. The score is nowhere near "rousing adventure"-like enough, sounding more like at points like "sentimental television" scoring. The dubbing is unfortunately shoddy, very stiff and some of it sounds like they're mumbling their way through their lines. Robert Rietty is the least bad, he does sound like how Welles would speak but some of his line delivery sounds like he was drunk at the time. On the whole, a long way from great or being the best version, but it's still pretty good and is miles ahead of the Palance adaptation. 6/10 Bethany Cox

We were on holiday with our Spanish friends and we were taken to look at the place her mother was born a place now abandoned on top of the hill overlooking the bay Somberica she told us the film Treasure Island was filmed there .She said her mother used to walk to Mojaca to go to school,also she carried water up the hill to the house as they had no water supply,th view from the house was spectacular. Our friend took us to the chiringquita for lunch,the bar was owned by her uncle her mothers brother and was used in the film. Her intention was to measure the ground round the house so as to sell it .it was wild up there the bar was empty so was the lovely bay it was an isolated beautiful wild place it was an experience we will never forget . Seeing the film today has prompted me to buy the d,v,d. Which I can't wait to receive June leech

I find this to be the definitive version of Treasure Island. I thought that Orson Wells's performance was exactly what it needed to be as a pirate. He was evil, but charming, violent but kind, he was as two sided as a coin. In my mind that is what a pirate is romantically. I saw this film first when I was 10 years old approximately and loved it then. I saw it again in the 1990's and fell in love with it again. With all the bad, weird and annoying versions of this classic novel like treasure planet (lame!) It is nice to have a standard to base them upon in cinematic form. This is it. Not Orson Wells greatest film by far but an enjoyable treat yes!

The level of production values,the caliber of the sets,the quality of the writing tend to make me think of the peplum films and cheap swashbucklers made in Europe during the post-war period and the 1950s and early 1960s that we used to see at Saturday afternoon matinees at the cinema or on Television.Let's face it,it doesn't even come up to the level of bad entertainment.Where do we begin? 1.)The ship is so small and shoddy that it couldn't even qualify as a fishing boat,let alone a deep-water vessel. 2.)The fort on the island,described as a sturdy log cabin in the story,is a stucco and brick hacienda,with a stone wall rather than the log stockade required. 3.)The casting is really quite strange:a.)Stander is so benign as to be unbelievable;b.)Slezak,as the squire is too refined and much too Middle-European to portray the blustering,blowhard Stevenson intended;c.)Who,in the name of all that's holy,suggested that Welles play Silver?He's too old,too lethargic,and too unhealthy looking to gives us the strong,powerful,vital villain we all think of.The only truly piratical trait he has is a genuine penchant for evil.Interestingly enough,they do show Ben Gunn as was the original concept.And the scenes at the Benbow Inn are quite realistic and accurate.In addition,the scenes at Silver's inn,interactions among the pirates there,and the introduction of Silver's mulatto wife give this production it's only redeeming moments.Watch this ,and see what not to do.