Swiss Family Robinson

Aside from the reviews I have read about this film, I am making the following statements because, I saw this film when it first came out in the theaters.

My most memorable (mental picture) of this movie is of a young boy, perhaps 12 years of age - riding an Ostrich. The family is on an island due to the ship they were on being wrecked, and they made it to shore, from that point on it is nothing but fun, the way they get organized, children being children, animals being animals, and the Mother and Father trying to cope with it all, they are a truly brave couple, and they fight the good fight together. Well acted, and directed, it left me with plenty of good memories, it is a true SHAME if it is no longer available to be seen.

Thanks to all who made this movie, so that I could enjoy it many years past.

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.

Just watched this film on Disney +. Wanted to find out more about it so I looked in IMDB and read reviews. Many really liked the film and complained that it wasn't readily available and what you could get were very poor quality. The quality on Disney + is very good and we really enjoyed the film although I still prefer the Disney version. I believe Disney + still has a 7 day free trial so if you just wanted to watch this movie you could do the free trial and cancel.

I thought I'd give this a watch before watching the Disney remake, given they are both on the latter's streaming service. I like 1940's 'Swiss Family Robinson', though there are many ways it could be improved upon which is what I hope the 1960 production does.

This one, made by RKO Pictures, is enjoyable. The action sequences look decent enough, the acting is solid while the premise is very intriguing. I rate the film almost from start-to-finish, the moments which make up that last part disappoints unfortunately - the ending doesn't really make sense.

Thomas Mitchell (William) and Freddie Bartholomew (Jack) are my standout characters, both of those two give good performances. Edna Best & Co. are all fine, though. It's with Best's character that makes the finale poor in my eyes. I won't spoil what happens, but it doesn't work in my opinion - especially in connection with what else occurs.

Those criticisms of mine stop me from placing this higher. However, it is still an entertaining flick from 1940.

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".