Swiss Family Robinson (film)
Encyclopedia
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 (literally, The Swiss Robinson
) by Johann David Wyss
. The film was directed by Ken Annakin
, shot in Tobago
. It was the second feature film version of the story (the first film version
was released by RKO
in 1940) and was a commercial success.
Swiss Family Robinson was one of the rare wide screen Disney films shot with Panavision
lenses. When shooting in wide screen, Disney had nearly always used a matte
d wide screen or filmed the movie in CinemaScope
.
is chased by pirates into a storm. The captain and crew abandon the ship leaving the family shipwrecked off an uninhabited island. Father (John Mills
) and his two eldest sons Fritz and Ernst (James MacArthur
and Tommy Kirk
) salvage as much as they can from the wreck including livestock, tools, and even an organ. As they gather what can be removed from the ship, the pirates return and begin shooting at the ship. Fritz and Ernst begin readying the ship's cannon, but they only have one shot. Suddenly, the pirates turn around; Father has put up a flag indicating the ship is under quarantine
and that there is Black Death
aboard. The three men construct a tree house
home on the island while the youngest boy Francis (Kevin Corcoran
) investigates the wildlife (and starts an impressive collection of animals) and Mother (Dorothy McGuire
) prays to be rescued. The boys, particularly Ernst, also build inventions to provide modern amenities to the family such as drawing water and preserving food.
Fritz and Ernst head off to explore the island and try to see if anyone else lives on it or if it is connected to any other lands. While at a distant corner of the island, they again spot the pirates who originally drove them into the storm. The pirates have captured another ship and have the ship's captain and cabin boy "Bertie" captives for ransom. Fritz and Ernst rescue Bertie but the captain, Bertie's grandfather, stays behind. The three dodge the pirates and head back to the family's tree house. En route, they discover that Bertie is really Roberta (Janet Munro
) and not a boy at all. The three fend off snakes and hyenas as they head home. They arrive back at the tree house at Christmas.
Father realizes the pirates will try to reclaim her and decides to make a stand against them. Defenses are prepared by building booby-traps and fortifying a rocky outcropping. They blow up the ship's wreckage in an attempt to make it difficult for the pirates to remember where the family went aground. While prepping for the pirate attack, Fritz and Ernst vie for the affections of Roberta. Ernst is more studious and attempts to sway her with his knowledge and intelligence while Fritz, older and not studious, uses his charm and physical attributes to attract her. Fritz and Ernst eventually come to blows over her and are only stopped by the intervention of Father. He declares the next day the first holiday for "New Switzerland" in an attempt to divert everyone. While prepping for the race (everyone has an animal to ride: Francis has the elephant, Ernst the ostrich, Roberta the zebra, the monkey on Duke, etc.), Mother fires the gun to signal the start of the race; the pirates, who are at that time sailing the coast looking for the place they last saw the ship that brought the family to the island, hear the gun and know the family is near.
Led by their captain (Sessue Hayakawa
), the pirates storm the island. The family manages a brave defense but are sorely pressed. Their defenses include pits with a tiger
in one pit, rock piles, a log pile and coconut bombs (hollowed out coconuts filled with gunpowder with a fuse), all of which cause problems for the attacking pirates. When the pirate leader waves a white flag
the family imagines they have routed the pirates, but the pirates instead are sneaking around the back of the fort. Francis' much-maligned "pirate alarm" is the only thing that warns them of the surprise attack. They begin defending the fortress but are soon down to only a few shots with their muskets. At this critical moment, a ship appears on the horizon captained by Roberta's grandfather (Cecil Parker
) and fires its cannons at the pirates and their ship. The pirates retreat and make a desperate escape, and the family rejoices. Father, Mother and Francis choose to remain on the island while the Captain notes that Father will likely be recommended as Governor of the new colony. As for the rest of the family, Ernst chooses to return to Europe with the rescuers in order to enroll in a university
to continue his studies while Fritz and Roberta plan to marry and make New Switzerland their home.
, Spartacus, and Exodus
. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, the box office revenue is $427,773,600, making it one of the biggest hits of all time. The film currently holds an 82% approval rating at the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
.
Upon the film's initial release, New York Times film critic Howard Thompson lauded the film by writing, "it's hard to imagine how the picture could be better as a rousing, humorous and gentle-hearted tale of family love amid primitive isolation and dangers." In his Family Guide to Movies on Video, Henry Herx wrote: "[N]icely directed by Ken Annakin, much of the fun for children wil come from the delightful and inventive conveniences the family builds and their relationships with the island's wildlife".
announced that a remake of Swiss Family Robinson was in development at Walt Disney Studios with Mandeville Films
co-producing the film. In June 2005, Variety confirmed that director Jonathan Mostow
would helm the director's chair for the film. It was to be produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Production on the film never began and the film was believed to be shelved until in early 2009 when it was announced by /Film
that the remake was still in the works. By this time, the film was renamed The Robinsons and "designed to star Will Smith
, Jada Pinkett Smith
and all three of the Smith kids - Trey, Jaden
and Willow
." As of 2011 there have been no official announcements, casting or setting of production dates.
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
starring John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
, Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
, and Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa
was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...
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 (literally, The Swiss 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...
. The film was directed by Ken Annakin
Ken Annakin
Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE was an English film director.- Biography :Annakin grew up in Beverley, Yorkshire where he attended the local school. He began his career in feature films following an early experience making documentaries. His first filmwork was in 1947 with the Rank Organisation...
, shot in Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
. It was the second feature film version of the story (the first film version
Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)
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.-Plot:...
was released by RKO
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...
in 1940) and was a commercial success.
Swiss Family Robinson was one of the rare wide screen Disney films shot with Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
lenses. When shooting in wide screen, Disney had nearly always used a matte
Matte (filmmaking)
Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image with a background image . In this case, the matte is the background painting...
d wide screen or filmed the movie in CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
.
Plot
A family on their way to New GuineaNew Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
is chased by pirates into a storm. The captain and crew abandon the ship leaving the family shipwrecked off an uninhabited island. Father (John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
) and his two eldest sons Fritz and Ernst (James MacArthur
James MacArthur
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O.-Early life:...
and Tommy Kirk
Tommy Kirk
Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...
) salvage as much as they can from the wreck including livestock, tools, and even an organ. As they gather what can be removed from the ship, the pirates return and begin shooting at the ship. Fritz and Ernst begin readying the ship's cannon, but they only have one shot. Suddenly, the pirates turn around; Father has put up a flag indicating the ship is under quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
and that there is Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
aboard. The three men construct a tree house
Tree house
Tree houses, treehouses, or tree forts, are platforms or buildings constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level...
home on the island while the youngest boy Francis (Kevin Corcoran
Kevin Corcoran
Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran is an American director, producer, and former child actor. He appeared in numerous Disney projects between 1957 and 1963, frequently as an irrepressible character with the nickname Moochie...
) investigates the wildlife (and starts an impressive collection of animals) and Mother (Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
) prays to be rescued. The boys, particularly Ernst, also build inventions to provide modern amenities to the family such as drawing water and preserving food.
Fritz and Ernst head off to explore the island and try to see if anyone else lives on it or if it is connected to any other lands. While at a distant corner of the island, they again spot the pirates who originally drove them into the storm. The pirates have captured another ship and have the ship's captain and cabin boy "Bertie" captives for ransom. Fritz and Ernst rescue Bertie but the captain, Bertie's grandfather, stays behind. The three dodge the pirates and head back to the family's tree house. En route, they discover that Bertie is really Roberta (Janet Munro
Janet Munro
-Career:Munro starred in three Disney motion picture releases, Darby O'Gill and the Little People , Third Man on the Mountain and Swiss Family Robinson , as well as The Horsemasters , which aired on Disney's weekly television series...
) and not a boy at all. The three fend off snakes and hyenas as they head home. They arrive back at the tree house at Christmas.
Father realizes the pirates will try to reclaim her and decides to make a stand against them. Defenses are prepared by building booby-traps and fortifying a rocky outcropping. They blow up the ship's wreckage in an attempt to make it difficult for the pirates to remember where the family went aground. While prepping for the pirate attack, Fritz and Ernst vie for the affections of Roberta. Ernst is more studious and attempts to sway her with his knowledge and intelligence while Fritz, older and not studious, uses his charm and physical attributes to attract her. Fritz and Ernst eventually come to blows over her and are only stopped by the intervention of Father. He declares the next day the first holiday for "New Switzerland" in an attempt to divert everyone. While prepping for the race (everyone has an animal to ride: Francis has the elephant, Ernst the ostrich, Roberta the zebra, the monkey on Duke, etc.), Mother fires the gun to signal the start of the race; the pirates, who are at that time sailing the coast looking for the place they last saw the ship that brought the family to the island, hear the gun and know the family is near.
Led by their captain (Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa
was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...
), the pirates storm the island. The family manages a brave defense but are sorely pressed. Their defenses include pits with a tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
in one pit, rock piles, a log pile and coconut bombs (hollowed out coconuts filled with gunpowder with a fuse), all of which cause problems for the attacking pirates. When the pirate leader waves a white flag
White flag
White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.-Flag of temporary truce in order to parley :...
the family imagines they have routed the pirates, but the pirates instead are sneaking around the back of the fort. Francis' much-maligned "pirate alarm" is the only thing that warns them of the surprise attack. They begin defending the fortress but are soon down to only a few shots with their muskets. At this critical moment, a ship appears on the horizon captained by Roberta's grandfather (Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
) and fires its cannons at the pirates and their ship. The pirates retreat and make a desperate escape, and the family rejoices. Father, Mother and Francis choose to remain on the island while the Captain notes that Father will likely be recommended as Governor of the new colony. As for the rest of the family, Ernst chooses to return to Europe with the rescuers in order to enroll in a university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
to continue his studies while Fritz and Roberta plan to marry and make New Switzerland their home.
Cast
- John MillsJohn MillsSir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
as Father Robinson - Dorothy McGuireDorothy McGuireDorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
as Mother Robinson - James MacArthurJames MacArthurJames Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O.-Early life:...
as Fritz Robinson - Janet MunroJanet Munro-Career:Munro starred in three Disney motion picture releases, Darby O'Gill and the Little People , Third Man on the Mountain and Swiss Family Robinson , as well as The Horsemasters , which aired on Disney's weekly television series...
as Roberta 'Bertie' - Sessue HayakawaSessue Hayakawawas a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors...
as Kuala, Pirate Chief - Tommy KirkTommy KirkThomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...
as Ernst Robinson - Kevin CorcoranKevin CorcoranKevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran is an American director, producer, and former child actor. He appeared in numerous Disney projects between 1957 and 1963, frequently as an irrepressible character with the nickname Moochie...
as Francis Robinson - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
as Captain Moreland - Andy Ho as Auban
- Milton ReidMilton ReidMilton Rutherford Reid was an Indian-born English actor and professional wrestler. He was born in India, the son of a Scottish-born Customs and Excise inspector and an Indian woman...
as Big Pirate - Larry Taylor as Pirate
Reception
Swiss Family Robinson was released on December 10, 1960. The film received generally positive reviews by critics and gained large revenue at the box office. All together, the film grossed roughly $40,000,000, making it the highest grossing film of 1960 and beating other hits of that year at the box office such as PsychoPsycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
, Spartacus, and Exodus
Exodus (film)
Exodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film was based on the 1958 novel Exodus, by Leon Uris. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo, which represented the breaking of the Hollywood...
. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, the box office revenue is $427,773,600, making it one of the biggest hits of all time. The film currently holds an 82% approval rating at the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Upon the film's initial release, New York Times film critic Howard Thompson lauded the film by writing, "it's hard to imagine how the picture could be better as a rousing, humorous and gentle-hearted tale of family love amid primitive isolation and dangers." In his Family Guide to Movies on Video, Henry Herx wrote: "[N]icely directed by Ken Annakin, much of the fun for children wil come from the delightful and inventive conveniences the family builds and their relationships with the island's wildlife".
Comparison with the book
The film makes many substantial changes to the plot of the original book, among them:- The pirates and Roberta do not appear in the novel. A girl named Jenny lives with the family instead.
- In the novel, the family builds a number of structures, including a much less elaborate treehouse, but ultimately settles in a cave.
- The novel includes a fourth son named Jack who is the third in order of age.
- Many more large mammals, including lions, bears, hippos, buffalo and walruses, are present in the book, while only tigers, elephants and zebras are present in the film.
- At the end of the novel, Fritz, Francis and Emily return to Europe while the rest of the family remains on the island.
- In the book the family is headed to AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in this film they are headed toward the GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
colony of New GuineaGerman New GuineaGerman New Guinea was the first part of the German colonial empire. It was a protectorate from 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australia following the outbreak of the First World War. It consisted of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups... - Turk is the name of one of the dogs while the other is named Juno in the novel, while Turk is accompanied by Duke in the film.
Remake
On December 12, 2004, VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
announced that a remake of Swiss Family Robinson was in development at Walt Disney Studios with Mandeville Films
Mandeville Films
Mandeville Films is an American independent film production company.Founded in 1994 by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, it re-formed as Mandeville Films and Television in 2002 after a short hiatus.-History:...
co-producing the film. In June 2005, Variety confirmed that director Jonathan Mostow
Jonathan Mostow
Jonathan Mostow is an American film director, writer and producer.-Biography:A graduate of Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut and Harvard, Mostow also trained at the American Repertory Company and New York City's Lee Strasberg Institute...
would helm the director's chair for the film. It was to be produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Production on the film never began and the film was believed to be shelved until in early 2009 when it was announced by /Film
/Film
/Film is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005.-Podcasts:Two podcasts run on the site. The /Filmcast airs Sunday nights, hosted by David Chen, Adam Quigley, and Devindra Hardawar, in which they and a guest discuss TV and...
that the remake was still in the works. By this time, the film was renamed The Robinsons and "designed to star Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
, Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
and all three of the Smith kids - Trey, Jaden
Jaden Smith
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith is an American child actor, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He is the elder brother of singer Willow Smith...
and Willow
Willow Smith
Willow Camille Reign Smith , often known simply as Willow, is an American child actress and singer. She is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the younger sister of Jaden Smith. Smith made her acting debut in 2007 in the film I Am Legend and later appeared in Kit Kittredge: An...
." As of 2011 there have been no official announcements, casting or setting of production dates.
See also
- Swiss Family TreehouseSwiss Family TreehouseSwiss Family Treehouse is an attraction that features at several Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The remaining versions based on the original are located at Magic Kingdom Park, Tokyo Disneyland and at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris...
, an attraction featured at several Walt Disney Parks and ResortsWalt Disney Parks and ResortsWalt Disney Parks and Resorts is the segment of The Walt Disney Company that conceives, builds, and manages the company's theme parks and holiday resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises...
.
External links
- Swiss Family Robinson at Ultimate DisneyUltimate DisneyThe Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD is a website dedicated to covering Walt Disney home video releases with a focus on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. The site has been online since 2001 and acquired its own domain and online forum in 2003...