Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)
Encyclopedia
Swiss Family Robinson is a 1940
film released by RKO Radio Pictures
and directed by Edward Ludwig
. It is based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann David Wyss
and is the first feature-length film version of the story.
), wishes to escape the influence of the superficial profligacy of London on his family. His eldest son, Fritz (Tim Holt
), is obsessed with Napoleon, whom he considers his hero. His middle son, Jack (Freddie Bartholomew
), is a foolish dandy who cares only about fashion and money. And his dreamy son Ernest (Terry Kilburn
) is preoccupied with reading and writing to the exclusion of all else.
William Robinson sells his business and house, in order to move with his wife and fours sons to Australia. They set out on a brig
bound for the faraway country. Following a long voyage, the family is shipwrecked on a remote deserted island after the captain and crew are washed overboard during a storm.
The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the alien jungle environment. They gradually learn to use the unfamilar plants and animals to create what they need to live and thrive. They have many adventures and challenges and make many discoveries. The mother (Edna Best), however, misses her elegant home and community in England, and wishes to somehow be rescued and return. The father slowly convinces her that living in the natural environment is better for the family and that they are meant to be there.
, who went uncredited as the story’s narrator.
A version running 108 minutes (15 minutes longer than the generally available print) is also screened occasionally.
for an Academy Award for its special effects.
The New York Times reported: “When it stays with the book, which was adventure plus instruction, the film is considerably better. The storm sequences—there are three of them—are properly noisy, drenching and spectacular. The salvage trips to the reef-bound brig, the lessons in candlemaking and ostrich-taking, the recipe for Mrs. Robinson's fish stew, some of the family's minor naturalistic adventures are amusingly, and often excitingly, depicted. They and the uniformly competent performance of the cast make it a moderately entertaining, if rather somnolently paced, story-book film.”
.”
The 1940 version is one of Oscar-winning film director James Ivory
’s favorite movies. Ivory is quoted as saying that he liked the idea of the Robinsons transforming their deserted island with their London furnishings salvaged from their shipwreck, saying, “Swiss Family Robinson … appealed to my boyhood taste for disasters.”
by Walt Disney
. Associate producer Basil Keys stated in a December 1960 Saturday Evening Post article that Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson chose to make their version of the film after viewing the RKO version. According to a July 1959 Los Angeles Times
article, director Ken Annakin used the RKO adaptation as "an example of what not to do," that is, avoiding the 1940 film's soundstage reproductions and focusing instead on location shooting and realistic art direction.
Walt Disney is said to have bought the rights to the RKO film in an effort to suppress its re-release and avoid comparisons to his 1960 version.
Currently the Walt Disney Co. holds the rights to the RKO version, and 20 minutes of it was featured in the "Vault Disney" DVD release of their 1960 Swiss Family Robinson.
Although the RKO version has not been released theatrically for decades, and no home formats from Disney were previously made commercially available, the film’s 92-minute version was briefly made available on DVD in 2010 from Turner Classic Movies
, on their own "Vault Collection" DVD label, a library of "rare and forgotten" films, produced "in only small quantities and available for a limited time." A limited on-demand DVD release by Retro Flix has also been produced.
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
film released by RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
and directed by Edward Ludwig
Edward Ludwig
Edward Irving Ludwig was a Russian-born American film director and writer. He directed nearly 100 films between 1921 and 1963....
. It is based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson
The Swiss Family Robinson
-History:Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss, the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance...
by Johann David Wyss
Johann David Wyss
Johann David Wyss is best remembered for his book The Swiss Family Robinson. It is said that he was inspired by Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but wanted to write a story from which his own children would learn, as the father in the story taught important lessons to his children...
and is the first feature-length film version of the story.
Plot
In 1813 London, a Swiss father, William Robinson (Thomas MitchellThomas Mitchell (actor)
Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
), wishes to escape the influence of the superficial profligacy of London on his family. His eldest son, Fritz (Tim Holt
Tim Holt
Tim Holt was an American film actor perhaps best known for co-starring in the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.-Early life:...
), is obsessed with Napoleon, whom he considers his hero. His middle son, Jack (Freddie Bartholomew
Freddie Bartholomew
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew , known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films...
), is a foolish dandy who cares only about fashion and money. And his dreamy son Ernest (Terry Kilburn
Terry Kilburn
Terry Kilburn is an English-American former child actor. He is sometimes credited as Terence Kilburn or Terrance Kilburn.Kilburn was born in London in 1926...
) is preoccupied with reading and writing to the exclusion of all else.
William Robinson sells his business and house, in order to move with his wife and fours sons to Australia. They set out on a brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
bound for the faraway country. Following a long voyage, the family is shipwrecked on a remote deserted island after the captain and crew are washed overboard during a storm.
The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the alien jungle environment. They gradually learn to use the unfamilar plants and animals to create what they need to live and thrive. They have many adventures and challenges and make many discoveries. The mother (Edna Best), however, misses her elegant home and community in England, and wishes to somehow be rescued and return. The father slowly convinces her that living in the natural environment is better for the family and that they are meant to be there.
Production notes
This was the first film to feature a performance by Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, who went uncredited as the story’s narrator.
A version running 108 minutes (15 minutes longer than the generally available print) is also screened occasionally.
Upon release
The film was nominated13th Academy Awards
The 13th Academy Awards honored American film achievements in 1940. This was the first year that sealed envelopes were used to keep secret the names of the winners which led to the famous phrase: "May I have the Envelope, please." The accounting firm of Price Waterhouse was hired to count the...
for an Academy Award for its special effects.
The New York Times reported: “When it stays with the book, which was adventure plus instruction, the film is considerably better. The storm sequences—there are three of them—are properly noisy, drenching and spectacular. The salvage trips to the reef-bound brig, the lessons in candlemaking and ostrich-taking, the recipe for Mrs. Robinson's fish stew, some of the family's minor naturalistic adventures are amusingly, and often excitingly, depicted. They and the uniformly competent performance of the cast make it a moderately entertaining, if rather somnolently paced, story-book film.”
Contemporary critics
Leonard Maltin calls the 93-minute version an “Excellent adaptation of Johann Wyss book,” and writes that it “boasts impressive special effects, strong performances, and much darker elements than the later Disney versionSwiss Family Robinson (film)
Swiss Family Robinson is a 1960 American Technicolor feature film starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, and Sessue Hayakawa in a tale of a shipwrecked family building an island home. The screenplay by Lowell S. Hawley was loosely based upon the 1812 novel Der Schweizerische Robinson by Johann...
.”
The 1940 version is one of Oscar-winning film director James Ivory
James Ivory (director)
James Francis Ivory is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
’s favorite movies. Ivory is quoted as saying that he liked the idea of the Robinsons transforming their deserted island with their London furnishings salvaged from their shipwreck, saying, “Swiss Family Robinson … appealed to my boyhood taste for disasters.”
Legacy and DVD release
The story was remade in 1960Swiss Family Robinson (film)
Swiss Family Robinson is a 1960 American Technicolor feature film starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, and Sessue Hayakawa in a tale of a shipwrecked family building an island home. The screenplay by Lowell S. Hawley was loosely based upon the 1812 novel Der Schweizerische Robinson by Johann...
by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
. Associate producer Basil Keys stated in a December 1960 Saturday Evening Post article that Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson chose to make their version of the film after viewing the RKO version. According to a July 1959 Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article, director Ken Annakin used the RKO adaptation as "an example of what not to do," that is, avoiding the 1940 film's soundstage reproductions and focusing instead on location shooting and realistic art direction.
Walt Disney is said to have bought the rights to the RKO film in an effort to suppress its re-release and avoid comparisons to his 1960 version.
Currently the Walt Disney Co. holds the rights to the RKO version, and 20 minutes of it was featured in the "Vault Disney" DVD release of their 1960 Swiss Family Robinson.
Although the RKO version has not been released theatrically for decades, and no home formats from Disney were previously made commercially available, the film’s 92-minute version was briefly made available on DVD in 2010 from Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, on their own "Vault Collection" DVD label, a library of "rare and forgotten" films, produced "in only small quantities and available for a limited time." A limited on-demand DVD release by Retro Flix has also been produced.
Cast
- Thomas MitchellThomas Mitchell (actor)Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
as William Robinson - Edna Best as Elizabeth Robinson
- Freddie BartholomewFreddie BartholomewFrederick Cecil Bartholomew , known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films...
as Jack Robinson - Terry KilburnTerry KilburnTerry Kilburn is an English-American former child actor. He is sometimes credited as Terence Kilburn or Terrance Kilburn.Kilburn was born in London in 1926...
as Ernest Robinson - Tim HoltTim HoltTim Holt was an American film actor perhaps best known for co-starring in the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.-Early life:...
as Fritz Robinson - Bobby Quillan as Francis Robinson (credited as Baby Bobby Quillan)
- Christian RubChristian RubChristian Rub was known as a character actor from the late 1910s to the early 1950s, and was featured in more than 100 movies, often uncredited. He was born in Passau, Bavaria, Germany. His first appearance was in the movie The Belle of New York...
as Thoren - John WrayJohn Wray (actor)John Wray was an American character actor of stage and screen.Wray was one of the many Broadway actors to descend on Hollywood in the aftermath of the sound revolution, and quickly made an indelible impression on the era in a variety of substantial character roles, such as the Arnold...
as Ramsey - Herbert RawlinsonHerbert RawlinsonHerbert Rawlinson was an English stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound films. Rawlinson died of lung cancer in 1953...
as Captain - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as narrator (uncredited)