John Mills
Father
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Adventure
Family
After being shipwrecked, the Robinson family is marooned on an island inhabited only by an impressive array of wildlife. In true pioneer spirit, they quickly make themselves at home but soon face a danger even greater than nature: dastardly pirates.
Top Billed Cast
| Release Date | 1960-12-21 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 2h 6m |
| Directors | Harry Waxman, Ken Annakin |
| Producers | Basil Keys, Bill Anderson, Walt Disney |
| Writers | Johann David Wyss, Lowell S. Hawley |
A lesser sense of danger and a more family friendly vibe, but that doesn't hinder 1960's 'Swiss Family Robinson' as it manages to surpass the original film adaptation of Johann David Wyss' novel.
That's mainly thanks to the conclusion, a thing that I criticised the earlier film for. Here, the character motivations are much more consistent and the ending is no longer nonsensical. The finale also has a very watchable event occur, which helps too.
I thoroughly enjoy the cast here. John Mills is as good as William (aka Father) as Thomas Mitchell is, though Dorothy McGuire fronts a much improved Elizabeth (aka Mother) who is more developed; still not perfect, but certainly better.
Elsewhere, you have three of the Disney resident youngsters teaming up in James MacArthur (Fritz), Tommy Kirk (Ernst) and Kevin Corcoran (Francis). They might not be the greatest actors, yet after seeing them in so many other films (together, in Kirk and Corcoran's case) I can't help but like them. Janet Munro (Roberta) is also decent.
The humour is more noteworthy in this one also, I chuckled more times. There's still room for improvement when it comes to this story, perhaps the next potential remake will do so, but I still felt very much entertained by this.
— r96sk