Die Abenteuer des Robinson Crusoe

I am sure that fans of director Luis Buñuel probably have very mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand, it's an exceptionally well made film from start to finish, but on the other, it's way too "normal" for the usually anarchic and often surreal director. In other words, the fact that this is a relatively straight retelling of the classic Daniel Defoe story may be held against it. There are no eyes being cut with razors, no devil coming to tempt Robinson nor is there any sexual chemistry between him and Friday--all touches you might expect from Buñuel. However, I am not a huge fan of the director's odd films--though I have enjoyed several of his more "approachable" films. So, it's not surprising that I liked this film very much. It was a fine quality product throughout. I also liked that in this version, Robinson is NOT a perfect man or some sort of saint--he's very flawed--especially in his initially paternalistic attitude towards Friday. It had a lot to say about slavery and the tendency to see all the natives as "savages". Well done--well directed and especially well acted by Dan O'Herlihy. A touching and interesting film.

It's a movie that draws you in , even though it portrays the very tedium of being stranded alone years on an island with just a dog and a cat. This movie is in such need of a restoration as the prints are grainy and the color muddy.

Robinson honoring the day of the Lord?When you know Bunuel's huge body of work,you do know that scene can only be ironical.If there's a moral to draw from his "Robinson" it's probably "God helps those who help themselves".That's what he says to his prisoner .In "La Mort en Ce Jardin" (1957) Bunuel would go further:his characters ,lost in the jungle ,light a fire with the pages of the Bible.

My favorite scene is Robinson screaming in front of the vast ocean :God is nothing but the echo of Man's voice.

Bunuel's Robinson is rather unpleasant.He is at first an idle lazy young bourgeois who has to work for the first time in his life.As always in Bunuel's canon,the nightmare scene where a mocking father appears is impressive;ditto for the voices of Robinson's old companions singing about good old time.

Robinson's relationship with Friday is very well depicted; the hero confesses he was a potential slave trader :the goal of his voyage?The dialog Robinson/Friday includes these immortal lines:

-If God's stronger than the Devil,why doesn't He kill him?

-God wants to put Man to the test.Man has choice between good and bad.

A writer,Michel Tournier ,was probably influenced by Bunuel for his book "Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique" :he made Friday Robinson's equal.

An essential Bunuel? probably not.But even a minor film by this extraordinary director deserves your undivided attention.

I saw this film as a small boy in 1954 and it had a profound effect on me.Even as a simple minded boy at the time, it had a power that i've never forgotten.....i've searched for video release of this film but have never found it....i would love to see it again

As someone who is not a great admirer of surrealism in any of its forms, and who found works like Le Chien Andalou or The Obscure Object of Desire gratuitously disturbing or pretensious respectively, I was delighted to come across this beautifully sensitive telling of the Robinson Crusoe story. A story not only of survival but also of friendship it is told with great feeling and warmth.