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51 of 53 found the following review helpful:
 Interesting and captivating Oct 22, 2005
By Kurt A. Johnson
When Captain Billy Bones (played by Finlay Currie) give young Jim Hawkins (Bobby Driscoll) a pirate's treasure map, he sets him off on the trail of adventure. When Long John Silver (Robert Newton) gets wind of what's going down, he positions himself to be ship's cook, and fills the boat with his pirate friends. Befriending Jim, Silver plots to get the gold for himself. But someone will prove quite capable of foiling Silver's plans - young Jim Himself! [Color, released in 1950, with a running time of 1:36.]
This is a great movie, one that is surprisingly good in spite of its age. Indeed, for me this will always be the very touchstone of Treasure Island movies. Robert Newton does an excellent job of portraying Long John Silver, and to this day, whenever I imagine a pirate talking, I hear his voice and accent. Now, don't take this movie too lightly. Even though it was created by Disney Studios, it has a lot of gunplay, blood, men hit with swords, and just the sort of violence you would associate with pirates.
But, don't get me wrong, this is not a modern blood-and-gore movie; it's an interesting and captivating movie that you will want to watch with your whole family. My family loves this movie just as much as I do, and highly recommends it to your family!
58 of 64 found the following review helpful:
Lackluster release of a classic Disney film May 14, 2003
By Garrett Aja
There's no doubt about it-Disney's version of Treasure Island is a classic (particularly the iconic perfomrance of Robert Newton as Long John Silver, a role that people *still* identify as the quintessential pirate), and the restoration of this movie is pretty good, and that's why I've rated this disc 5 stars.*But*, the extras stink. Actually, who am I kidding? There are no extras! None, not even a trailer (like the oldest Gold Collection releases even had). There's no mistaking that this disc is meant as a tie-in to Trasure Planet, but you'd think that Disney, which has gotten *a lot* better with its DVD releases in the last 18 months, would put out a disc with at least cursory features (trailers, a classic short, and maybe some vintage intro or something by Walt himself). Apparently, I'm wrong.
23 of 24 found the following review helpful:
5 stars for the film. 1 star for the DVD! Apr 30, 2003
By Steven L. Hall
"The PsychicWarsVeteran"
I have loved this movie since I was but a wee lad (born in 1967). I had the record LP as a child and still have the VHS tape. It remains to this day my favorite live action Disney film and the best pirate movie to date. Sadly,this DVD is a travesty!!! The colors are good but there is still lots of work to be done on it to call it "fully restored". Plenty of grain remains on the print. And what's all this about no special features?!?! No 2nd disc?!?! This film is a milestone in Disney's history! Yet here it is treated as second rate! Nothing more than quick sell DVD to put on the same display self as Treasure Planet when it was being released to DVD. Now how about doing it right Disney and release this gem on Blu-ray, cleaned up real good and filled with extras. Do it like Walt was still in charge.
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
classic tale told in classy production Dec 18, 2001
(...)Who in the world actually thinks that a movie made from a book should include every line of dialog from the book? The beauty and art of cinema is supposed to be in the many interpretations of the same story/tale. Each director/producer team makes these interpretaions for themselves. Byron Haskin (director) and Perce Pearce (producer) have made a wonderful adaptation of the R.L. Stevenson classic tale. This Disney movie can be enjoyed by both children and adults. I personally have seen this movie as a child in the 1960's, as a teenager in the 1970's and yet again as an adult in my thirties in the 1990's and appreciate it now more than ever. Who says that a child can only be entertained by cartoon characters and silly songs? As a child I loved the adventure storyline and friendship between pirate Long John Silver and young boy Jim Hawkins. The quality of this film can be traced directly to the production team of Haskin/Pearce and indirectly to Walt Disney himself. All of the Disney films by this production team ( Treasure Island, The Sword and the Rose, Robin Hood and His Merrie Men and, I think, Song of the South) have the same beautiful stage sets with a look not seen elsewhere, rousing and thrilling musical scores by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, lush cinematography shot in the English countryside and excellent casting and acting. If the characters were not perfectly casted then there were certainly none that seemed out of place. Treasure Island has all these good qualities about it. And finally, this movie as well as the others listed were released when Walt Disney himself were still alive. After Walt died the quality of Disney fare became... uh.... well, one can see the quality of today's Disney with Eisner in charge. I'll leave it at that. I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think cinema like this will ever show up again. To bad! What a great treasure of a movie! (Pardon the pun)
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Walt Disney's first completely live-action film. Jun 25, 2001
By Stewart
Like so many adventure stories, there have been numerous film versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". Walt Disney's 1950 live-action film gets my vote as the best version. Robert Newton, of course, steals the film as Long John Silver, but praise should also go to Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and the top-notch British supporting cast. This film has almost nothing that is mostly associated with Disney movies, including no songs or funny characters, but that doesn't bother me. I still love it, mainly because of the two main characters, Long John and Jim Hawkins, and the well-developed relationship they have.
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