''Long John Silver'', also known as ''Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island'', is a 1954 American-Australian adventure film about the eponymous

pirate 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 ...

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a 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 culture. His missing l ...

, with

Robert Newton Robert Guy Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for hi ...

repeating his starring role from

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film pr ...

's 1950 feature ''

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 n ...

''. Newton's billing in the opening credits states, "Robert Newton as

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 a ...

's immortal", followed by the title ''Long John Silver''. Kit Taylor plays Jim Hawkins,

Connie Gilchrist Rose Constance Gilchrist (July 17, 1895 – March 3, 1985) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Among her screen credits are her roles in the Hollywood productions '' Cry 'Havoc (1943), '' A Letter to Three Wives'' (1949) ...

is Purity Pinker, Lloyd Berrell is Capt. Mendoza, Kit Taylor's father Grant Taylor plays Patch and 24-year-old

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''The Time Machine'' (1960), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961), '' The Birds'' (1963), and '' I ...

, credited under his early stage name, Rodney Taylor, has the showy role of the blind bearded pirate

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 ...

who murderously pursues Jim. The film was shot in

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

and color at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountai ...

Pagewood Studios Pagewood Studios was a film studio in Sydney, Australia, that was used to make Australian, British and Hollywood films for twenty years. Creation The studio was built in 1935 for National Productions by National Studios Ltd, it was originally know ...

and the same company went on to make ''

The Adventures of Long John Silver ''The Adventures of Long John Silver'' is a TV series about the Long John Silver character from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel ''Treasure Island''. It was made in 1954 in colour in Australia for the American and British markets before the ...

'', a 26-episode TV series with the same actors. The director,

Byron Haskin Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing ''The War of the Worlds'' (1953), one of many films where he t ...

, also directed the 1950 Disney film and at least one episode of the TV series. ''Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island'' should not be confused with another 1954 American film, '' Return to Treasure Island'', released six months earlier, in June, with stars

Tab Hunter Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018) was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of t ...

and

Dawn Addams Victoria Dawn Addams (21 September 1930 – 7 May 1985) was a British actress, particularly in Hollywood motion pictures of the 1950s and on British television in the 1960s and 1970s. She became a princess in 1954 (until 1971). Early years Ad ...

. Hunter plays a researcher of secrets hidden within Stevenson's ''

'' and Addams is Jamesina "Jamie" Hawkins, a descendant of Jim Hawkins. In the film's universe, the characters and events described in Stevenson's adventure novel are portrayed as a part of history.

Plot

The movie is set some time after the events of ''Treasure Island''. Long John Silver and crew are broke and bumming around Portobello (a fictional port in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada ...

). Long John has a map to a second treasure cache on Treasure Island; but needs a special medallion to decode it. The pirate Mendoza has kidnapped Governor Strong's daughter Elizabeth and is holding her ransom. Also captured is Jim Hawkins, who has been press ganged into serving as cabin boy. Hawkins has secretly helped Dod Perch escape, and sent them to track down Long John Silver for help. Perch manages to find Long John, but is beaten to the punch and killed by two of Mendoza's men. Perch is able to mention Mendoza, Strong and Hawkins before perishing. Long John visits Governor Strong and his wife and proposes to deliver the ransom before they pursue Mendoza. During the pickup of the ransom, Long John goes with Billy Bowlegs to Mendoza's ship and blackmails Mendoza over their plan to hoard the ransom money. Long John suggests to Mendoza that he leave Elizabeth on shore and lure the governor's warships away in order to sack the king's warehouses. As Mendoza carries out the plan, Long John finds that Jim possesses the pirate medallion indicating the second treasure's location. Mendoza begins to double cross Long John, but Long John has his men ambush and capture Mendoza along with the warehouse fortune, while Jim and Elizabeth make their escape. Back at the governor's house, Jim is offered the chance to go back to England, but Long John has plans to take Jim with him on the second voyage to Treasure Island. After his crew has been captured along with the warehouse loot, Long John seizes an opportunity to crew Captain MacDougall's ship, the same slave ship carrying Hawkins back to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. Long John sets off, avoiding becoming engaged to Purity Pinker, and barely escaping the alert local sentries. Long John plots a mutiny on Captain MacDougall's ship. Hawkins discovers Long John's plan and tells the puritanical MacDougall, who decides to maroon Long John and his men on an island that is the secret hideout of Mendoza. Jim sets fire to Mendoza's warehouse so that Long John and his crew can capture Mendoza's ship. As Long John sails for Treasure Island, Mendoza awaits his next ship. Once on Treasure Island, Long John and his men take shelter in the stockade from Israel Hands, who had survived Jim's shot some time ago, but is blind. Israel keeps Long John and his men trapped, killing them a few at a time. Soon, Mendoza's men arrive, and Israel offers to side with Long John in return for a passage to Cornwall and vengeance against Jim. After they flee, Mendoza burns down the stockade. Long John follows the trail of the map to the caves where the treasure is buried. Israel tries to kill Jim, but Jim leads him to the coast, where Israel plunges to his death. As Jim heads back to the caves, he is taken by Mendoza, who is going to use him as bait to get Long John, but Long John surrenders to Mendoza, giving his men the opportunity to make an attack, cutting down Mendoza's forces and leaving the rest marooned. Long John returns to Portobello as a rich citizen and dines with the Governor, during which it is implied that Silver received a pardon for his past crimes for the role he played in saving his daughter's life, and for a "generous donation to Government House" that served to "arm the harbor against pirates". He and Jim ride off before Purity Pinker can pull a shotgun wedding.

Cast

Production

's film of ''

'' (1950), starring

as Long John Silver, had been very successful at the box office. Because the novel was in the public domain, producer Joseph Kaufman decided to make a sequel in which Newton reprised his role. The film was produced by Treasure Island Pictures Pty. Ltd. The company's dominant shareholder and financier was Joseph Kaufman. The minor shareholders were director

, writer

Martin Rackin Martin Rackin (31 July 1918 – 15 April 1976) was an American writer and producer who was briefly head of production at Paramount Pictures from 1960–64. In the late 1950s he wrote and produced a series of films with actor Alan Ladd. Rich ...

and star Robert Newton. The producer chose Australia to film, rather than Egypt, as a number of other films had been successfully made in Australia to reduce production costs, which was a common practice in the 1950s for US and British films, as the Australian crews spoke English. Part of the funding from the film came from notorious Wall Street financier

Louis Wolfson Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by ''Time'' as such in a 1956 article.His Majesty O'Keefe'' (1953) and cast several actors from that film, including Grant Taylor, Muriel Steinbeck, and Guy Doleman. Doleman was selected to play Israel Hands but refused to grow a beard and wear contact lenses which were required for the part. He dropped out and

stepped in instead. The only actors imported were Robert Newton and Connie Gilchrist. The role of Jim Hawkins was given to Grant Taylor's son Kit. The film was shot in and around

during 1954. Most of the filming was done at Pagewood Studios, where large sets were built representing a pirate ship, seaport and waterfront street. The filmmakers also constructed a galleon on a barge at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cooks R ...

, and filmed a sea battle between six foot model ships in

Port Hacking Port Hacking Estuary ( Aboriginal Tharawal language: ''Deeban''), an open youthful tide dominated, drowned valley estuary, is located in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia approximately south of Sydney central business district. Por ...

. Other locations used included the

Jenolan Caves The Jenolan Caves (Tharawal: ''Binoomea'', ''Bindo'', ''Binda'') are limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in the Central Tablelands region, west of the Blue Mountains, in Jenolan, Oberon Council, New South Wal ...

(standing in for the caves on Treasure Island), Garie Beach, south of National Park (as the coast of Portobello) and the town of Waterfall (substituting for Treasure Island). Production began on 3 May 1954 and shooting lasted for 63 working days. Filming was complicated by the fact that it was the first movie in Australia shot in

. This was also the first movie to be shot in

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...

outside the United States. Del Campo became the second Mexican, after Joe MacDonald, to work on a CinemaScope picture. While making the film, court proceedings were initiated against Newton in England to fulfill his debts, which resulted in his being declared bankrupt.

Reception

Critical reaction to the film was generally poor. A color television series, ''

'', resulted nonetheless; it ran for one series of 26 episodes. This was the first TV series made in Australia, two years before television broadcasting started in the country. The series began production in 1954 and originally aired in the US, UK, and Australia in 1955–56, 1957–58, and 1958–59, respectively. Kylie Tennant wrote a

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the script. Kaufman took out an option on

for two more years and announced plans to make other films in Australia including ''Come Away, Pearler'', from the novel by Colin Simpson. That did not happen. The film and its star Robert Newton were referenced several times in the UK TV comedy series ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starred ...

'' (1956–1961).

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

References

Further reading

External links