El pequeño Robinson

Family (dad, mom, four boys) heading for Australia from England during the early part of the 19th century are shipwrecked on an island in the south Pacific and do their best to survive. Concentrate on Thomas Mitchell's usual fine performance and less on the 1940 vintage special effects, and very poor print quality (typically available) and there is some entertainment to be had of here. The lush "island" surroundings would have been enhanced by filming in color...but I have a suspicion this was not a very big budget picture and it would have been more obvious how many of the scenes were filmed on a sound stage in front of a rear projection screen. Even the island looks like a matte painting. Don't look for bedraggled, miserable Robinson Crusoes either, for generally, the Swiss Family have most of the comforts of an Andy Hardy home...so much for hokey 1930's family film realism.

Saw this "Thomas Mitchell" Swiss FR years, decades ago broadcasted on TV. In fact during the 50's and 60's this wonderful movie would be shown often. It was just a great kids adventure movie, and is simply the best of them all. Would be great to see it now, but...

One of fourteen films from 1940 nominated for a best special effects Academy Award, Swiss Family Robinson captures the great moment from the Wyss novel were the family escapes a crippled ship, rowing a makeshift raft to a nearby island, while cows, pigs and other livestock swim along side them.

For its time, this is a successful mix of multiple effects techniques: a miniature raft (with stick-figure people) in a studio tank ocean; in the background a miniature ship lodged against rocks; puppet animals bobbing in the water, heading to a matte painting tropical island. The rear-screen work and cross-cutting to a live-action section of ship make for an exciting scene.

Later in the film, as huge trees topple in a thunderstorm, one recalls how effective these b&w FX scenes can be - - even though to modern eyes the illusions are obvious.

The film has heart and captures the spirit of the book but cannot compare with the entertainment and fun of Disney's version of 1960. The sparse thrills include Kilburn's ride on an ostrich and his encounter with cave spiders.

Thomas Mitchell as the father acts with conviction, and the brothers are well-cast.

For years, this film was as lost as the Robinsons...kudos to Disney Plus for allowing a modern generation to discover its charms.

While there is a slight personal preference for the 1960 Disney film, which is much more familiar to me, this 1940 film adaptation of 'Swiss Family Robinson' should be better known and unfortunately can only really be found on a too darkly lit and blurry VHS. It is a film worthy of a DVD, and a remastered one at that.

As an adaptation of the book (which is a very fun, suspenseful and thought-provoking read), this is the more faithful adaptation with more of the book's events intact, better performances from the kids generally and a darker tone. For me though, the later Disney film is better made, has the better played Elizabeth, has a more fitting music score especially in the opening storm sequence (not knocking the music here though) and who cannot resist that treehouse?

Judging it as a standalone and moving on from the VHS issues, the only problems this reviewer found with the film were some draggy pacing in parts and Edna Best's stiff and overacted Elizabeth. Although the VHS does the production values no justice, the settings and costumes are very nicely mounted and it's nicely photographed. The Oscar-nominated special effects in the storm sequences impress and the storm sequences themselves though a touch overlong are spectacularly authentic with a real sense of danger.

'Swiss Family Robinson' is rousingly and lusciously scored, securely directed and intelligently scripted. There is more of the book's story here, and scenes like the salvage trips to the reef-bound brig, the lessons in candle-making and ostrich-taking, the recipe for Elizabeth's fish stew are portrayed in an amusing and exciting manner, same with the spider bite which does have a good deal of suspense. The characters have lost none of their charm and appeal, while the animals are sweet and well trained.

Best aside, the acting is good with a perfectly cast Thomas Mitchell and a delightful Freddie Bartholomew coming out on top. An uncredited Orson Welles brings his distinctive booming voice to the narration, which doesn't make the mistake of being over-used or over-explanatory.

In conclusion, very well done and unfortunately unjustly forgotten. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The 1940 version of "Swiss Family Robinson" is very much like the original British version of "Gaslight". A major studio (in this case, Disney) bought up all the known prints of a film in order to prevent folks from comparing the newer version to the original. So, although the 1940 is NOT a Disney production, it is included (along with the 1960 Disney version) on the new Disney+ service.

When the story begins, you learn that William Robinson (Thomas Mitchell) is planning on uprooting his family from England and taking them to Australia. You soon see why....this Swiss family has a few budding young jerks in it. One of the Robinson sons is a 'sophisticated', useless twit who has ambitions to be a richer useless twit and another who loves war and longs to be a soldier. Lacking decent values, William is intent on making his children decent and industrious and wants to get them out of Europe during the Napoleonic era. Not surprisingly, the family hates this but it is 1813....and what dad says goes. Now it is VERY easy to hate two of the Robinson sons and sympathize with William...they truly were worthless individuals and in his place, I would have considered euthanasia...not just uprooting the family to Australia! But unfortunately for William, neither occurs...they get shipwrecked along the way and must fend for themselves on a deserted island. Will it bring the family closer or forever tear them apart?

A weak point of this film is that Mrs. Robinson whined and complained much more in the 1940 version...to the point where it was very tough to like or sympathize with her character. Additionally, much of the story is missing from the movie and it really seems abbreviated. And, the story itself looks like it took place over a few months at most--but the book had them there for over a decade. Compared to the 1960 Disney version, there is less action and excitement...and no pirates. On balance, the film is good and worth seeing...and quite different from the later film. My recommendation is to see them both, as they really are much like separate stories.

By the way, at one point in the film, young Ernest Robinson is bitten by a tarantula and soon passes out...and nearly dies. Well, this is silly as tarantula bits are hardly venomous at all and are much like a bee sting in severity. There has never, in fact, been a recorded death attributed to this arachnid's bite. Additionally, cutting ANY bite to 'suck out the poison' is ridiculous and pointless. So, this clearly is a case where you can say "Kids....don't try this at home".