''Treasure Island'' is a 1934 film directed by

Victor Fleming Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were '' Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director, and '' The Wiza ...

and starring

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...

Jackie Cooper John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931 ...

, Lewis Stone, and

Nigel Bruce William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953) was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series ''The New Adventures of Sherlock ...

. It is an adaptation of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's famous 1883 novel of the same name. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

led by

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a Character (arts), fictional character and the main antagonist in the novel ''Treasure Island'' (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular cult ...

threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and lives.

Plot

Young Jim Hawkins (

) and his mother (

Dorothy Peterson Bergetta "Dorothy" Peterson (25 December 1897 - 3 October 1979) was an American actress. She began her acting career on Broadway before appearing in more than eighty Hollywood films. Early years Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota, the dau ...

) run the Admiral Benbow, a tavern near Bristol, England. One dark and stormy night, during a birthday celebration, the mysterious Billy Bones (

) arrives and drunkenly talks about treasure. Soon after, Bones is visited by Black Dog (

Charles McNaughton Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

) then Pew (

William V. Mong William V. Mong (June 25, 1875 – December 10, 1940) was an American film actor, screenwriter and director. He appeared in almost 200 films between 1910 and 1939. His directing (1911–1918) and screenwriting (1911–1922) were mostly for ...

), and drops dead, leaving a chest, which he bragged contained gold and jewels. Instead of money, Jim finds a map that his friend Dr. Livesey (

Otto Kruger Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's ''Saboteur''. He also appeared in CBS's ''Perry Mason'' a ...

) realizes will lead them to the famous Flint treasure. Squire Trelawney (

) raises money for a voyage to the treasure island and they set sail on Captain Alexander Smollett's ( Lewis Stone) ship ''Hispaniola''. Also on board is the one-legged Long John Silver (

) and his cronies. Even though Bones had warned Jim about a sailor with one leg, they become friends. During the voyage, several fatal "accidents" happen to sailors who disapprove of Silver and his cohorts. Then, the night before landing on the island, Jim overhears Silver plotting to take the treasure and kill Smollett's men. Jim goes ashore with the men, and encounters an old hermit named Ben Gunn ( Chic Sale), who tells him that he has found Flint's treasure. Meanwhile, Smollett and his loyal men flee to Flint's stockade on the island for safety. Silver's men then attack the stockade when Smollett refuses to give them the treasure map. While the situation looks hopeless, Jim secretly goes back to the ''Hispaniola'' at night, sails it to a safe location and shoots one of the pirates in self-defense. When he returns to the stockade, Silver's men are there and Silver tells them that a treaty has been signed. The pirates want to kill Jim, but Silver protects him. Dr. Livesey comes for Jim, but the boy refuses to break his word to Silver not to run away. The next day the pirates search for the treasure hold and when they find it, it is empty. When some of the pirates mutiny against Silver, Livesey and Gunn join him in the fight. Smollett then sails home with the treasure, which Gunn had hidden in his cave, and with Silver as his prisoner. Silver tells Jim a horror story of a slow death by hanging due to his one leg causing Jim to be unable to stand by and let his friend be hanged, Jim frees Silver. As he sails away, Silver promises to hunt treasure with Jim again some day, as Honest John Silver.

Cast

as Jim Hawkins *

Billy Bones Billy Bones is a fictional character appearing in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel ''Treasure Island''.''Treasure Island.'' In The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (2000).Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1883 994The Old Se ...

as Doctor Livesey * Lewis Stone as

Captain Smollett Captain Alexander Smollett is the fictional captain of the schooner ''Hispaniola'' in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel ''Treasure Island''. He plays an important part in disciplining the main characters on the ship as the story progresses, and ...

Squire Trelawney Squire John Trelawney is a supporting character from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel ''Treasure Island''. Character overview Stevenson describes him as a tall man, over six feet high, and plump in proportion, and he has a bluff, rough-and-rea ...

Charles "Chic" Sale Charles Partlow "Chic" Sale (August 25, 1885 – November 7, 1936) was an American actor and vaudevillian. Early years Sale was born in Huron, South Dakota, and raised in Urbana, Illinois. He was a son of Frank and Lillie Belle (née Part ...

as Ben Gunn *

as Pew * Charles McNaughton as Black Dog *

as Mrs. Hawkins *

Vernon Downing Vernon Downing (1913–1973) was a British actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, generally playing English characters. Filmography References External links * 1913 births 1973 deaths English male film actors Male actors from ...

as Inn Boy * As Pirates of the Spanish Main: **

Douglass Dumbrille Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s. Life and career Douglass Dumbrille ( ) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he was employed ...

(

Israel Hands Israel Hands, also known as Basilica Hands, was an 18th-century pirate best known for being second in command to Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. His name serves as the basis for the name of the villainous sidekick in Robert Louis Steve ...

) **

Edmund Breese Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby. The Opera House in Eureka Spring ...

(Job Anderson) **

Olin Howland Olin Ross Howland (February 10, 1886 – September 20, 1959) was an American film and theatre actor. Life and career Howland was born in Denver, Colorado, to Joby A. Howland, one of the youngest enlisted participants in the Civil War, an ...

(Dick) ** Charles Irwin (Abraham Gray) **

Edward Pawley Edward Joel Pawley (March 16, 1901 in Kansas City, Missouri – January 27, 1988 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley; he never u ...

(William O'Brien) ** Richard Powell (Post) ** James Burke (George Merry) ** John Anderson (Harry Sykes) ** Charles Bennett (Daddy Dawson) *

Harry Cording Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). Life and career ...

as Henry (uncredited) *

J. M. Kerrigan Joseph Michael Kerrigan (16 December 1884 – 29 April 1964) was an Irish actor. Early life Joseph Michael Kerrigan was born on 16 December 1884 in Dublin, which was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at that time. H ...

as Tom Morgan (uncredited)

Casting notes

Wallace Beery originally was cast as Israel Hands in director

Maurice Tourneur Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and L ...

's silent production of ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' for Paramount in 1920 (now a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

). Beery was replaced by

Joseph Singleton Joseph Edward Victor Fairfield Daveran Singleton (1 March 1879 – 24 October 1946) was an actor of the silent era. An Australian, he appeared in 74 films between 1913 and 1925. He was born in Melbourne. Selected filmography * ''Shon the ...

but appeared that year in Tourneur's silent masterpiece ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...

''.

Reception

The film's box office performance was described as "disappointing" although it was MGM's third biggest film of the season with rentals of $2,264,000. It was re-issued in 1937–38 and earned an additional $144,000. Writing for ''The Spectator'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

favorably compared the film to '' Midshipman Easy'', describing ''Treasure Island'' as having "a deeper, a more poetic value", with characters and events providing rich symbolism and a palpable sense of good and evil. (reprinted in: )

References

External links

* * * *
Treasure Island
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Radio Times review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treasure Island (1934 Film) 1934 films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1934 adventure films Films directed by Victor Fleming American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Treasure Island films Films scored by Herbert Stothart American adventure films 1930s American films