Die Schatzinsel

I have seen it after 32 years - thanks my friend from Germany who sent my tapes with this. Great and I can recommend to all. It is very nice series and what to do if our TV is not able to repeat it, they rejected it but we have also dabing for these series. Compositor for music is coming from Prague - he is old 80...Music is in CD...

What we have here, surprisingly turns out to be one of the finest film adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island that I have seen. Beloved in Germany were it first appeared as a "four-parter" at Christmas 1966, this version, while not 100% adherent to the novel, nevertheless captures a spirit of adventure that is sadly missing in many other versions. One of the more problematic aspects is the casting of Michael Ande as Jim Hawkins. At 22 this former child star is simply too old for the role, yet he is likable and attractive and plays with such a boyish verve that one soon forgets his advanced age. English actor Ivor Dean cuts a fine figure as Long John Silver and unlike so many who have played the role gets his point across without chewing the scenery. The rest of the cast is equally fine. The whole thing is beautifully filmed and looks very expensive for a television production. At 344 minutes, you'd think that it would suffer from over-length, but it does not. I watched the whole thing in one sitting, riveted. By the way, the DVD of Die Schatzinsel offers no English language subtitles, but even with my beginning German skills (I can't speak a lick of German!) I liked this a lot.

Just a word of caution: My first experience with this movie was a badly dubbed English version, cut down to movie length. I thought it was horrible, badly paced, dull, incoherent and just plain odd. Well,of course it was bad! Aside from the washed out print and the horrible voice work, over three hours of the film had been cut! Avoid that version like the plague.

Very realistic and not picturing the 2 opposite parties in black and white. Also good that the audience is led through the story by different characters and even by the young AND the old Jim Hawkins. Also the music helps a good deal to built up the tension. A pirate story for children and grown-ups.

Everybody who likes the novel, will like this four parter. And even if you don´t know the book, this adaption is very entertaining and stays very close to the novel.

A lot better, than the Muppets version and all other ones I have seen so far. The acting still is very convincing, especially Ivor Dean as Long John Silver.

The best about this movie is, it is preCGI, so you are not always distracted by searching for hidden effects. There are also no mattepaintings used, or they are so good that I didn´t find them.