- Film Review
- Reviewed By David Parkinson
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4 out of 5
John Mills and Dorothy McGuire leading their family in a chorus of Oh, Christmas Tree (in an impossibly luxurious desert-island tree house) is, for many, an abiding memory of childhood cinema-going. Viewed many moons later, this lavish (if overlong) Disney version of Johann Wyss's novel has lost little of its appeal. British director Ken Annakin shot the film on the Caribbean island of Tobago and keeps the action brisk and breezy. Compared to state-of-the-art sequences in modern action adventures, though, the shipwreck, the raft rescue and the pirate raid are perhaps not as thrilling as they once seemed.
Plot Summary
Period adventure starring John Mills. In an attempt to escape Napoleon's oppressive rule, the Robinson family board a ship and set off for a new life. But their journey comes to an abrupt halt when they are shipwrecked on a tropical island.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Father Robinson
- John Mills
- Mother Robinson
- Dorothy McGuire
- Fritz Robinson
- James MacArthur
- Roberta
- Janet Munro
- Pirate chief
- Sessue Hayakawa
- Ernst
- Tommy Kirk
- Francis
- Kevin Corcoran
- Captain Moreland
- Cecil Parker
- Auban
- Andy Ho
- Big pirate
- Milton Reid
- Battoo
- Larry Taylor
Crew
- Director
- Ken Annakin
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