page_title: Swiss Family Robinson (1960 film)
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Swiss Family Robinson (1960 film) / Production / Development
context_page_description: Swiss Family Robinson is a 1960 American adventure film starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran in a tale of a shipwrecked family building an island home. It was the second feature film based on the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, a previous adaptation having been released by RKO Pictures in 1940. Directed by Ken Annakin and shot in Tobago and Pinewood Studios outside London, it was the first widescreen Walt Disney Pictures film shot with Panavision lenses; when shooting in widescreen, Disney had almost always used a matted wide screen or filmed in CinemaScope.
  Upon its release, Swiss Family Robinson was a major success with both critics and audiences and remains one of Disney's most beloved live-action feature films.
context_section_description: The film is based upon Der Schweizerische Robinson (translated as The Swiss Family Robinson), a book written by Johann David Wyss. RKO Pictures had previously made an adaptation in 1940, directed by Edward Ludwig. After watching that movie, Walt Disney and Bill Anderson decided to produce their own version of the story. Anderson talked with director Ken Annakin during filming of another live-action Disney picture, Third Man on the Mountain, near Zermatt (Switzerland). Ken Annakin had also worked with Disney in the 1953 adventure film The Sword and the Rose. During his stay in Switzerland, Annakin read the book and he wondered why Disney wanted to make a story so outdated.
  There were several meetings to decide filming locations. There was talk of making the film in a studio in Burbank, California or filming on location in a natural environment. Annakin wanted to film in Ceylon, and the associate producer Basil Keys, in East Africa. Bill Anderson stressed that they should examine the Caribbean. They visited Jamaica and Trinidad, but it was not what they wanted. Somebody in Trinidad told them of a nearby island, Tobago. When they saw the island for the first time, they "fell instantly in love", and they sent a telegram to Anderson, who traveled to Tobago and found it fitted to their needs. However, one of the drawbacks of this choice was that the island had no local wildlife. Once Walt Disney accepted, cast and crew got their shots and passports for a stay of six months in Tobago.
caption: The movie was filmed entirely on the island of Tobago
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