Treasure Island (1934)

Director:

Victor Fleming

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (novel)
John Lee Mahin (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

17 August 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

Sail The High Seas Of Adventure Again !

Plot:

Young Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure.

Plot Keywords:

Search | Young Boy | Adolescent | Child Abuse | High Seas

Cast

Wallace Beery	...	Long John Silver
Jackie Cooper	...	Jim Hawkins
Lionel Barrymore	...	Billy Bones
Otto Kruger	...	Doctor Livesey
Lewis Stone	...	Captain Smollett
Nigel Bruce	...	Squire Trelawney
Charles 'Chic' Sale	...	Ben Gunn
William V. Mong	...	Pew
Charles McNaughton	...	Black Dog
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Hawkins
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Edmund Breese	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
Olin Howland	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
Charles Irwin	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
Edward Pawley	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
Richard Powell	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
James Burke	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
John Anderson	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
Charles Bennett	...	Pirate of the Spanish Main
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Tom (seaman) (uncredited)
Robert Anderson	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Bernice Beatty	...	Woman at inn (uncredited)
Wilson Benge	...	Friend at inn (uncredited)
Bruce Bennett	...	Man at Tavern (uncredited)
Red Berger	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Robert Bolder	...	Mild man at ynn (uncredited)
Ed Brady	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Westcott Clarke	...	Allan (uncredited)
Cora Sue Collins	...	Young girl at the inn (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Henry (pirate) (uncredited)
Sidney D'Albrook	...	Joyce (uncredited)
Jill Dennett	...	Streetwalker (uncredited)
Kay Deslys	...	Streetwalker (uncredited)
Billy Dooley	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Vernon Downing	...	Boy at inn (uncredited)
Frank Dunn	...	Hunter (uncredited)
Harold Entwistle	...	Ship's chandler (uncredited)
Matt Gilman	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Jack Hill	...	Pirate (uncredited)
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Tom Morgan (pirate) (uncredited)
John Kerr	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Edith Kingdon	...	Wife at inn (uncredited)
A.B. Lane	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Tom Mahoney	...	Redruth (uncredited)
Jim Mason	...	Pirate (uncredited)
King Mojave	...	Pirate (uncredited)
John Northpole	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Ethel Ransome	...	Streetwalker (uncredited)
Yorke Sherwood	...	Mr. Arrow (uncredited)
Shirley Simpson	...	Woman friend at Inn (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Pirate (uncredited)
Jane Talent	...	Streetwalker (uncredited)
Hal Wilson	...	Oldster (uncredited)
Tom Wilson	...	Pirate (uncredited)

Directed by
Victor Fleming

Writing credits
Robert Louis Stevenson		(novel "Treasure Island")
John Lee Mahin		(screenplay)
John Howard Lawson		(contributor to treatment) uncredited and
Leonard Praskins		(contributor to treatment) uncredited

Produced by
Hunt Stromberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
Clyde De Vinna		(photographed by) (as Clyde DeVinna)
Ray June		(photographed by)
Harold Rosson		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Blanche Sewell

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Costume Design by
Dwight Franklin		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Horace Hough	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Merrill Pye	....	associate art director
Edwin B. Willis	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
Robert Shirley	....	sound (uncredited)

Music Department
Wayne Allen	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Bob Davis	....	singing voice: Charles 'Chic' Sale (uncredited)
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Lamkoff	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Charles Maxwell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Dwight Franklin	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Inc.)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

USA:103 min (Turner library print) | USA:110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #9)

Filming Locations:

Alameda, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Capt. Alexander Smollett: Lower the flag? Strike my colors? Not I, sir! We're without without provisions but we've plenty of powder and ball and, by heaven, sir, this spot is England!
[Salutes the Union Jack]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina (2003)

Soundtrack:

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Wallace Beery Waves The Jolly Roger

The most famous pirate in English literature sets sail across the High Seas of Adventure - bound for TREASURE ISLAND.

Robert Louis Stevenson's wonderful 1883 tale of devious deeds, derring-do & hidden doubloons is given a first rate production by MGM in this swaggering, boisterous film. Although many of the lead actors are American and make no pretense of hiding their Yankee accents, this in no way hinders the enjoyment or appreciation of the film's many qualities. The story has been necessarily streamlined a bit, but the excisions are judicious and the robust flavour of the original novel remains.

Bulbous & bulgy, with a gimlet eye & a baby's grin, Wallace Beery makes a unique Long John Silver. As willful as an infant and as ruthless as a Mafia don, he completely manages to steal every scene he's in. Acting as innocent as any cherub, he gleefully commits murderous mayhem at every turn, while hobbling about on his crutch in feverish pursuit of Flint's buried treasure. Beery had the rare - and enviable - ability to take a wretched sinner like Silver and transform him into a lovable old rogue. He makes this role his own and is unforgettable in it.

OUR GANG star Jackie Cooper makes a sturdy Jim Hawkins. His screen chemistry with Beery, so important to the plot, is still as good as it was previously in THE CHAMP (1931). Cooper was a talented child actor and could easily go from excited high jinks to blubbery tears with ease. Here, he gets to personify every lad's dreams of fabulous exploits & personal glory.

A trio of accomplished performers portray young Cooper's three friends: Otto Kruger as noble Doctor Livesey; Nigel Bruce as blustery, big-hearted Squire Trelawney; and Lewis Stone as sternly courageous Captain Smollett. All three acquit themselves very well.

Consummate character actor Lionel Barrymore adds another portrait to his gallery - that of the bullying, rumsoaked Billy Bones, whose possession of the treasure map is the instigation of the film's problems. Although the role is really quite brief, Barrymore makes the most of it, slashing wildly about with his cutlass and singing ‘Fifteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest' with passionate fury. It is a shame the plot gave him no scenes with Beery - they would have been memorable together.

Stevenson's story creates a few small, choice cameo roles which are here delightfully delineated - Charles McNaughton as the scurvy Black Dog; William V. Mong as the fearsome Blind Pew; and a terrific Charles ‘Chic' Sale as canny old Ben Gunn, all jerks and fidgets and ridden with fleas. Dorothy Peterson, a fine actress, plays Mrs. Hawkins.

The seafaring scenes on board the Hispaniola, filmed along the coast of California, are particularly well produced.