HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Mr. Robinson Crusoe'' is a 1932 Pre-Code American film. It is one of the few "
talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decad ...
" films starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., in his penultimate film role; Fairbanks also produced the film and provided the story during the Great Depression. The film was directed by
A. Edward Sutherland Albert Edward Sutherland (January 5, 1895 – December 31, 1973) was a film director and actor. Born in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaud ...
, a veteran silent film director, for Fairbanks's Elton Productions, and released by United Artists. Steve Drexel (played by Fairbanks) shows a fiery optimism and can-do spirit that matches the Fairbanks screen persona that appears in his most popular films. The South Seas comedy adventure featured location filming on TahitiVance, Jeffrey (2008). Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pg. 293. . with working titles being ''Tropical Knight'', ''A Modern Robinson Crusoe'' and ''Robinson Crusoe of the South Seas''.


Plot summary

The film opens with a title card that reads "From the time Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, man has vainly sought to find solace, comfort and earthly pleasures in an artificial world of his own creation. Down through the ages has come that eternal heritage of the urge in every man to turn his back on so-called civilization, to get back to nature and revel in the glories and freedom of a primitive paradise." The Fairbanks character Steve Drexel voluntarily strands himself on a deserted island on a bet. He intends to re-create civilization (in the form of New York) and carves a comfortable home, complete with a sign reading
52nd Street 52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of ...
and Park Avenue out of the jungle. Drexel is joined by his dog, and befriended by a native monkey, parrot, and a wild goat that is captured in one of his traps. He attempts to cultivate a "head-hunter" native as his
Man Friday Friday is one of the main characters of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' and its sequel '' The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe''. Robinson Crusoe names the man Friday, with whom he cannot at first communicate, because they fi ...
from Robinson Crusoe, but fails as the native escapes. A woman played by actress
Maria Alba María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez (28 December 1905 – 26 October 1999), known professionally as Maria Alba, was a Spanish-American film actress. Biography Signed by the Fox Film Corporation after winning Fox Film contest in Spai ...
runs away from a marriage she does not want on a neighboring island and is trapped in one of his devices. He names her ''Saturday'' and she becomes the love interest of the film. In an attempt to communicate with Saturday, he tries
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, and then
Pig Latin Pig Latin is a language game or argot in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllabl ...
. Over the course of the film, she slowly learns rudimentary English. Eventually, the natives on a nearby island attack the Fairbank's settlement at the behest of the men that bet against the main character. The hero defeats the hostile natives just as his friends arrive and he wins the bet. Coincidental to their arrival, a separate war party of natives (billed as head-hunters) arrives and attacks. Steve Drexel distracts them as his friends save his animals and head for the yacht. After a harrowing chase, he ends up escaping with his friends, animals and the girl Saturday on the yacht that brought him there. He takes her back to New York where she performs to an appreciative crowd in the Ziegfeld Follies.


Cast

*
Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
as Steve Drexel * William Farnum as William Belmont * Earle Browne as Professor Carmichale *
Maria Alba María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez (28 December 1905 – 26 October 1999), known professionally as Maria Alba, was a Spanish-American film actress. Biography Signed by the Fox Film Corporation after winning Fox Film contest in Spai ...
as Saturday


Soundtrack

During the filming the sound equipment failed and the film had to be dubbed back in California.Vance, Jeffrey (2008). Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pg. 295. .
Alfred Newman Alfred Newman (March 17, 1900 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Aca ...
who had previously scored Fairbanks' '' Reaching for the Moon'' composed the score. Newman reused one of his musical themes for the 1937 film '' The Hurricane'' where it became a popular song called '' Moon of Manakoora''. Newman's score for ''The Hurricane'' was nominated for an Academy Award.


Legacy

Fairbanks biographer
Jeffrey Vance Jeffrey Vance (born May 21, 1970) is an American film historian and author who has published books on movie stars including Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Career While working as an archivist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists he met E ...
writes "''Mr. Robinson Crusoe'', his last personal production, was designed to meet his responsibilities in the least demanding way. The film was conceived as an inexpensive travelogue masquerading as a narrative film...Free from the hated dialogue that had so confined his type of film, Fairbanks should have been in his element. And yet, despite the primarily visual aspect of the film, his customary ebullience is not in evidence; his character is a hypomanic middle-aged man."


Further reading

*Vance, Jeffrey. Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. .


References


External links

* *
Public domain download of Mr. Robinson Crusoe


{{DEFAULTSORT:Mr. Robinson Crusoe 1932 films 1932 comedy films 1932 adventure films American black-and-white films Films directed by A. Edward Sutherland Films set in Oceania United Artists films American adventure comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films