weezeralfalfa Based on R.L. Stevenson's classic tale, especially aimed at boy readers. At one level, it's a reluctant buddy story between a devious, sometimes piratical, one-legged rascal(Long John Silver) and a naïve imaginative boy(Jim Hawkins) who worships the charismatic knowledgeable man. It's Jim who found the map to Captain Flint's buried treasure chest, and it's Silver who schemes to steal the map from the gentleman adventurers allied with Jim, and eventually the treasure as well as the ship that takes all to the island. Silver serves as cook aboard the ship, and was given the honor of selecting most of the crew, who will serve as his henchmen. Eventually, Jim overhears Silver talking to his gang about his plan of action, and relays this information to the gentlemen adventurers. Later, on the island, at one point, the other mutineers want to kill Jim, but Silver intercedes. On the voyage home, in reciprocation, Jim releases Silver from custody, so that he may sail off into the unknown, and avoid the hangman's noose that the gentlemen adventures had in store for him.....Wallace Berry makes an appealing charismatic Long John, but it's inevitable that he will be compared with Robert Newton, who took the same role in the 1954 Disney remake. Newton's rascally, but charismatic, Long John is more distinctive from Berry's version, but Berry is also very good. I would say hope to catch both versions some day. Of course, kids these days usually demand color movies, which is where Disney's version shines....Other charismatic characters include Lionel Barrymore as Billy Bones, who supplies the treasure map among his post-humus things., William Mung, as blind Pew, Charles McNunington as Black Dog, and ,of course, skeletal Ben Gun.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 7 August 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. New York opening at the Capitol: 17 August 1934. U.K. release: 22 December 1934. Australian release: 19 December 1934. 11 reels. 109 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Young Jim Hawkins tackles vicious Long John Silver.VIEWERS' GUIDE: Suitable for all.COMMENT: Young Cooper is not an overly convincing Jim Hawkins, but everyone else is absolutely brilliant in this outstandingly entertaining version of the Stevenson novel we all studied so assiduously at school. Why didn't they lighten our little hearts by showing us this terrific movie, for heaven's sake? Just plain mean, I guess. No doubt to-day's students have merely to call up the movie on the Internet — making sure they specify this one and not the Robert Newton or Orson Welles interpretations. For fine as those actors are, they can't compare with Wallace Beery. In fact, Long John Silver was the role Beery was born to play. He is charmingly superb.But Beery's is not the only performance-of-a-lifetime in this masterfully directed account of a Boy's Own mutiny and piracy. Lionel Barrymore's is the other really stand-out piece of acting. And we should also make a special laudatory mention of both William V. Mong's Pew and Charles McNaughton's Black Spot.The rest of the players are no laggards either. What a cast! What a cast!Maybe Chic Sale is a bit too "in character" as Ben Gunn. But as 99% of "Treasure Island" viewers will never have seen the old Chic before (even though he made at least a dozen other pictures), this is a ridiculous quibble.At least director Victor Fleming is not an unknown quantity among school kids. Yes, this is just as good as Gone With The Wind or The Wizard of Oz or Captains Courageous or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In fact it's a darn sight better. Maybe I'm prejudiced because I'm a direct descendant of Robert Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson's grand- father, so bear that in mind! AVAILABLE on an excellent Warner DVD.

JLRVancouver Beery's Long John Silver and Barrymore's Billy Bones are the quintessential pop-culture pirates, parrots and all, and for that alone 1934's "Treasure Island" is worth watching. The black and white cinematography is great (I gather that there is a colourised version but who cares) and the music, with the iconic "Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum" theme, is perfect. The gang of pirates are as scurrilous a band of brigands as you could ask for: the embodiment of treachery with bad teeth, led by the conniving Silver, played to the cutlass hilt by the great Wallace Beery. The only real weak point is child-star Jackie Cooper's Jack Hawkins character. Cooper's characteristic pouting lower lip and Shirley Temple delivery just didn't work in the generally grim and dark tale – every time he spoke, I expected Wheezer or Stymie to show up (apparently Cooper himself was not pleased by his delivery of the role). Other than that, and the studio-approved alteration to the end of the story, this is a fine version of the Robert L. Stevenson's classic novel.

mlraymond This movie holds up pretty well, in spite of acting styles and a general Thirties feel that may seem a bit off to the modern viewer.But Stevenson's story is presented here overall with more authenticity than the later Disney version. The gruesome death of Blind Pew, and the murder of an honest seaman by Long John Silver, witnessed by the horrified Jim Hawkins, are presented unflinchingly.The shipboard and island scenes are good, and the siege of the stockade is excitingly staged. Douglas Dumbrille turns in an incredibly malevolent performance as Israel Hands, pursuing Jim with a dagger around the ship, with them the only people on it. It's a really fascinating villain role for Dumbrille, in light of his usual portrayal of smooth, suave bad guys. With baggy seaman's trousers and a bandanna, stubbly beard and earring, and eyes that gleam with murderous delight, firing the cannon at the longboat of escaping good guys, and laughing diabolically, this may be Dumbrille's most memorable part.The opening segment, with the old buccaneer Billy Bones arriving at the inn and lodging there, to terrorize the villagers into singing rowdy sea chanteys with him, scandalizing everyone by gleefully narrating tales of his bloodthirsty adventures, and telling Jim to keep one eye open for a seafaring man with one leg, is marvelous. Lionel Barrymore has a great time as the bad tempered, drunken old pirate who owns the mysterious chest, and lives in fear of being found by his old shipmates. The scene where the incredibly frightening Blind Pew forces Jim Hawkins to lead him to Billy Bones and deliver the Black Spot, is hair raising.. The look of abject misery and mortal terror on Barrymore's face, when he is confronted by the creepy blind man ,is unforgettable.This movie is a lot of fun for anyone who loves the R.L.Stevenson story, and pirate movies generally. The emotional climax, though criticized as overly sentimental, still packs a wallop even today.