Le dernier vol de l'arche de Noé

Despite real talent in this movie -- Charles Jarrott directing Genevieve Bujold and Elliot Gould from a story originally written by Ernest Gann, this one is a real misfire.

Gould is the pilot of a B-29 Superfortress converted to island-hopping cargo. He's got a load of assorted animals, missionary Bujold, and a couple of kids, including the always-annoying Ricky Schroeder. They crash land on a Pacific island where they encounter two Japanese soldiers who don't know the war is over. Eventually everyone makes friends and they convert the plane to a boat to try to get back to civilization.

The problems with the movie seem to stem from its script and Disney's uncertainty of what this movie was supposed to be. It borrows from several other movies, including FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON and FATHER GOOSE to sheer adventure on the high seas and vague Biblical references, with no consistency of tone, and no real character engagement. Each actor seems to be playing a one-note character, only to switch gears as the plot dictates.

I blame Ron Miller, in his last credit as producer, at the trough of Disney's post-Walt era. After this, it was back to the office and only "Executive Producer" credits as Disney's CEO, where he tackled the company's problems by eventually replacing himself with abler movie people.

I had previously written to the IMDB about this film and I wanted to add a few more comments about it because it is one of my favorites of all time. I think it is Disney's best film and I only wish that more people could see it because it has never been shown on TV. Ernest K. Gann who wrote the story for the film also wrote the classic John Wayne film The High And The Mighty. He also wrote another fine film about an airplane disaster called Fate Is the Hunter with Glenn Ford. Elliott Gould gives his finest performance in this film. This man is probably best known as Barbara Striesands husband and I feel that is a great dishonor to him. They gave her the American Film Institute's Lifetime Ahcievement Award and he has been in almost four times as many films as her. Is that justice? Genevieve Bujold is wonderful in this film and the chemistry between her and Gould is wonderful as well. She is an actress who has never been given her just due as well. She made a film a couple years later with Chris Reeve called Monsignor that was such a devastating bomb that it blacklisted her for life basically. Rick Schroder is one of the few child actors who made a successful transition to adult roles. This was his first film after he made The Champ with Jon Voight (people said that he was one of the most appealling child actors to come along) he proves in this film that he can act and I think it is his best performance. There was a biography of Walt Disney called Walt Disney Hollywood's Dark Prince that mentioned that TLFONA was one of the biggest bombs in the history of the studio and I still cannot understand why. This is family film at its very best. This movie is a classic and one of the fondest memories of my childhood is watching it.

I remember it being very good. Christians won't be offended. A missionary brings a man to Christ, and they do not make Christians appear to be idiots. A good adventure movie, with a tinge of action and adventure, though not violent.

Unemployed pilot must pay 5G's in 24 hours to his bookmaker or else his goons will work him over; he reluctantly accepts a job flying a feisty missionary and her farm animals to an island in the South Pacific in a rickety B-29 bomber, but the plan goes awry. First, the couple is joined by two stowaway orphans who are worried about the animals, then the plane goes off-course and the pilot is forced to crash land the aircraft on the beach of an uncharted island--inhabited by two Japanese soldiers who are unaware that WWII is over. In the first half of the 1970s, Elliott Gould made film after film, mostly counterculture comedies which established him as an anti-hero; he appealed to the young people of the era who hoped to shout down the Establishment. However, by 1980, Gould had become part of the Establishment, a working stiff in Hollywood, and the industry's middle ground (Disney) was eager to turn him into a grouchy sweetiepuss, a Bogart father-figure for marriage-minded women and wet-eyed youngsters. Gould doesn't embarrass himself here--he's firm with both the kids and the missionary (a forthright but not stubborn Genevieve Bujold)--but he's coasting, his energy at half-mast. The film, adapted from Ernest K. Gann's story "The Gremlin's Castle", has elements of "Swiss Family Robinson", "The African Queen" and even (God help us) "Jaws", but director Charles Jarrott blessedly keeps it moving instead of stopping to preach. There are things Jarrott probably had no control over, such as the kids fussing and crying over the animals or Maurice Jarre's cloying music, which tugs at the tear ducts. It doesn't quite work, but there are compensations: Gould and Bujold manage to develop a faintly warm rapport, and Charles F. Wheeler's cinematography is excellent. The island location is lovely, and the Japanese men (John Fujioka and Yuki Shimoda) are handled with respect. As for the bookmaker, we are to assume he got his money, and also that the seasick bull made a speedy recovery. This is Disney, after all. **1/2 from ****

While Vincent Gardenia and J.P. Ryan only appear in the film's beginning, they are pretty much in character. Gardenia wise cracking and Ryan playing a really small part as a "heavy" after Elliott Gould for money owed to his bookie. The story is rather "formula driven". Plane carrying animals goes down on an island. Japanese Soldiers appear, eventually making friends with Gould and Genieve Bujold. Two kids who were stowaways are the only reason this is a family film. I found them to be more annoying than anything, but obviously they were not going to go away. Once the plane is turned into a raft, we get the expected crisis of the minute, including a shark attack, and a storm. All ends well, and the movie is far from memorable, especially for adults. - MERK