The Adventures of Long John Silver

Filmed in Australia before Australia themselves even had television, and created to air on ABC (the American one) in 1955, The Adventures of Long John Silver follows up on the previous two films of immense success with a budget family serial. The series sits at 26 episodes at length before cancellation, though only the first 13 were available to me, and looking online I couldn't find the others with relatively ease, some may be considered lost. Not as much of a shame as you might think, the series never made it to prime time, and wasn't even on the list for top 25 series in the seasons it aired. Again following the titular pirate captain Long John Silver after his adventures trying to find the famous Treasure Island, the series takes place after John has acquiesced to giving up piracy and joining a life of relative peace in the Caribbean. Each episode follows a new adventure as they need a young islanders tooth pulled, to recoup funds for a local tavern, or simply to rescue a far off sinking ship. The plots are simple and the acting and sets are simpler. Most of this series was shot in an inside studio and you can really tell (especially the "far off at sea" ship scenes. Halliwell's television companion even brings this up and gives the series a quaint review: "Cramped, studio-bound adventures of a rascally pirate, notable chiefly for preserving a famous star performance." And that's probably all you need, while it did re-enforce the famous pirate voice we now all expect from pirates everywhere thanks to the lead Robert Newton who played Long John Silver, if you must check out this performance I would highly recommend you instead just watch the original 1950 film Treasure Island. And honestly maybe even skip that one too.

While the series is pretty dated, and occasionally politically incorrect, it is an exuberant romp. Robert Newton's performance has always struck me as the definitive interpretation of the role. The production values for 1950s TV were actually pretty good. The script writing is fairly good, and the stories weather well. Some episodes are truly excellent,for example "Execution Dock" which contains a great, extended, surreal dream sequence that has rarely been equaled. I recently obtained a copy of the DVD set for my children (8 and 6) to watch, and they are entranced. I found that interesting, since their only previous exposure to the "pirate" sub-genre had been the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, but the lack of special effects, and Johnny Depp silliness didn't not seem to cause any problem.

I remember watching an episode of this when I was about 4 back in 1957 in black and white. There was a scene with a skeleton lying in a clearing with a cutlass through it's chest and a chorus of pirates chanting "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" To this day I remember being absolutely terrified and running out of the lounge into the kitchen where I hid behind my mum's legs! I think it has to be my earliest memory!

Watched the whole series in 1985 when it was re-shown on Saturday afternoons and loved Robert Newton as Long John, but my favourite character was Purity Pinker (Connie Gilchrist).

Although the editing and colour is pretty ropey. Fans of British actor Robert Newton in his classic role as British pirate turned semi-respectable citizen Long John Silver, will want to see more of him in this vintage TV series. Six episodes from the series were released as a three video set in 1999 (in the United States).

As a kid I watched this on local TV and found it very amusing. In my single digits I rarely paid attention to the perceived budgetary constraints on a film or TV series. I've always loved Robert Newton -no matter what he was in. He carries on his excellent interpretation of Stevenson's one-legged con man. Prior to the series he did a feature film, Return to Treasure Island,(1954), also starring later star Rod Taylor (Yup, he was an Aussie) as Israel Hand no less! The film segued into the series. Newton and Gilchrist stole the series with no effort. Sadly the budget was the demon here. The sets looked like cardboard and you rarely ever saw one of their ships (unless stock footage was used, and the costumes usually look like they were created by a teacher for a sixth grade play. Take a look at the governor's uniform in one episode. Hell they couldn't even afford a parrot! Looking at it nearly 50 years on it's still a lot of fun with spirited performances and well paced direction. Will today's kids, brought up on crap like the Pirates of the Caribbean "franchise" with it's naive premise and foppish "captain", not to mention the typical overuse of CGI go for this? I doubt it, as it requires them to listen and think - besides, it has a plot!