Swiss Family Robinson

Plot synopsis:
The novel opens with the family in the hold of a sailing ship, weathering a great storm. The ships' passengers evacuate without them, and William and Elizabeth and their four children (Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Francis) are left to survive alone. As the ship tosses about, the father - William - prays that God will spare them.
The ship survives the night and the family finds themselves within sight of a tropical desert island. The next morning, they decide to get to the island they can see beyond the reef. With much effort, they construct a vessel out of tubs. After they fill the tubs with food and ammunition and all other articles of value they can safely carry, they row toward the island. Two dogs from the ship named Turk and Juno swim beside them. The ship's cargo of livestock (including chickens, domestic ducks, domestic geese, and domestic pigeons), guns & powder, carpentry tools, books, a disassembled pinnace, and provisions have survived.
Upon reaching the island, the family set up a makeshift camp. The father knows that they must prepare for a long time on the island and his thoughts are as much on provisions for the future as for their immediate wants. William and his oldest son Fritz spend the next day exploring the island.
The family spends the next few days securing themselves against hunger. William and Fritz make several trips to the ship in their efforts to bring ashore everything useful from the vessel. The domesticated animals on the ship are towed back to the island. There is also a great store of firearms and ammunition, hammocks for sleeping, carpenter’s tools, lumber, cooking utensils, silverware, and dishes. Initially they construct a treehouse, but as time passes (and after Elizabeth is injured climbing the stairs down from it), they settle in a more permanent dwelling in part of a cave. Fritz rescues a young Englishwoman (Jenny Montrose) shipwrecked elsewhere on their island.
The book covers more than ten years. The father and older boys explore various environments and develop homes and gardens in various sites about the island. At the end, the father wonders if they will ever again see the rest of humanity. Eventually a British ship that is in search of Jenny Montrose anchors near the island and is discovered by the family. The captain is given the journal containing the story of their life on the island which is eventually published. Several members of the family choose to continue to live tranquilly on their island while several of them return to Europe with the British ship.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Best of them all..
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....
Siss Family Robinson.
I also remember this movie from my childhood.
I thought that all copies were destroyed.
I would love to see it again.
If there is a copy out there I would love to know where.
This movie may be a little outdated, but for kids it would be great.
If the story and the cast remained with me for 50+ years, it might also remain with the kids of today.
Thomas Mitchell was a great actor, but I agree that the wife in this movie left a little to be desired.
There are also a lot of animals for the little kids to enjoy.
It's a basic, clean adventure where you don't have to worry what you child is watching, which is something rare in these days.
I recommend highly..
Unjustly forgotten, and in need of a remastered DVD.
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. A little bit of alright.
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..
Definitely a children's movie!.
I had never before seen any version of this film, nor have I read the book.My mother tells me that she first saw this film when she was 10 (1946) and simply loved it.
She hadn't seen it since.In the 70's she wondered what had become of this film and wrote to Frazier Thomas, host of "Family Classics", in Chicago.His response stated that Walt Disney purchased this film when his 1960 version came out and locked it away never to be seen again.She recently mentioned it again so I looked it up, and to my surprise, found it.
Swiss family Robinson is a good 1940 children's film.
But that is all!Thomas Mitchells acting is as good as always, and the boys did a good job acting like wealthy brats reformed by their ordeal.Did anybody notice that the youngest boy, Francis Robinson, played by Baby Bobbie Quillan, was a girl?
I didn't.I think Edna Best could have done better as Elizabeth Robinson.
Her acting was stiff and boring, though it may not have been entirely her fault, this is a 1940 film set in 1820.The story is ridiculous, most children's stories are, and there's too much religion for me, but I can look past these points.The special effects are dated but are reasonable for their day.This film is obviously a low budget production.
It needs a good disaster scene when the captain and crew are washed overboard and more adventure on the island.If you are into nostalgia take a look..
True family fun!.
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..
Life on an island after shipwreck.
Purchased a VHS copy of this film from AMAZON years ago.
The quality is the worst I have ever seen.
I should have returned it.
Almost unwatchable.
My memories of this film go back to grammar school and watching it in the auditorium of my catholic school in West Philadelphia.
I remember the scary giant spider scene!
Disney should restore the film and release it to the public.
Disney has historical interesting films like this and Song of the South which they refuse to release in the United States for silly reasons .
The actors in this film did an excellent job of giving the viewer the feel of being on an island and the thought of never returning to civilized life.
All ashore who's going ashore!.
...and that includes dogs, cows, horses, pigs on a barrel and those of the human variety.
The birds can fly, joining the exotic variety which has probably never seen a duck in its life.
Thomas Mitchell, the pop from "Gone With the Wind", takes on the role of another literary patriarch, a successful businessman who immigrated from Switzerland to England, and now wants to find a new home with the Napoleonic wars approaching.
And what a home they find, but in this case, it is not Disney style.This version of the Johann David Wyss novel is in glorious black and white, and is all the better for it.
While the Disney version is worthy of its classic status, this version has been wrongfully overlooked, with a lesson pre-war of survival and growing up, and what living on this earth is all about.
Mitchell and his wife (Edna Best) have strived to raise their children with dignity and ideals, but they have ended up being too worldly and materialistic.
It's obvious that life in God's country will make men out of them, and only hard work will bring them survival in their challenging new home.Tim Holt, Freddie Bartholomew and terry Kilburn are the three post adolescent children, with Baby Quillan as the cute newest addition to the family that brings ooh's and aah's for his cuteness.
A giant sea turtle and ostrich are among the new creatures of God who help show the family the truth of their new paradise.
And if course, there's the famous tree house, not quite as grand as Disney's, but no bird's nest, either.
All in all, a fine version of a classic tale that I'd long wanted to see and was not disappointed in the least.
My only issue is the obvious passage of time that does not seem to age the youngest child as the two older sons obviously arrive at adulthood..
Bland.
SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON in the pre-Disney edition starred Thomas Mitchell as the father who ships off his family in the hopes of making his children men.
Its an often good looking film that is much too slow to really be of much interest.
Frankly part of the problem is that the film takes 20 minutes to get to the point where the family ends up on the island.
and by then you just want then to get on with it.
The rest of them film is them building and rebuilding their shelters as storms come.
The high point of the film is a spider bite late in the game.
I can kind of see why my mom loved this film but I also know why its fallen by the wayside.