''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 (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best ...

and starring Wallace Beery,

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 Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular '' Andy ...

, and Nigel Bruce. 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 a ...

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

Plot

Young Jim Hawkins (

) and his mother ( Dorothy Peterson) 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 "f ...

) then Pew ( William V. Mong), 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 ( Nigel Bruce) raises money for a voyage to the treasure island and they set sail on Captain Alexander Smollett's (

) ship ''Hispaniola''. Also on board is the one-legged Long John Silver ( Wallace Beery) 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 Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick. Etymology ''Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictiona ...

), 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

* Wallace Beery as Long John Silver *

as Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island), Jim Hawkins *

as Billy Bones *

as Dr. Livesey (character), Doctor Livesey *

as Captain Alexander Smollett, Captain Smollett * Nigel Bruce as Squire Trelawney * Chic Sale, Charles "Chic" Sale as Ben Gunn (Treasure Island), Ben Gunn * William V. Mong as Pew * Charles McNaughton as Black Dog * Dorothy Peterson as Mrs. Hawkins * Vernon Downing as Inn Boy * As Pirates of the Spanish Main: ** Douglass Dumbrille (Israel Hands) ** Edmund Breese (Job Anderson) ** Olin Howland (Dick) ** Charles Irwin (Abraham Gray) ** Edward Pawley (William O'Brien) ** Richard Powell (Post) ** James Burke (actor), James Burke (George Merry) ** John Anderson (Harry Sykes) ** Charles Bennett (actor), Charles Bennett (Daddy Dawson) * Harry Cording as Henry (uncredited) * J. M. Kerrigan as Tom Morgan (uncredited)

Casting notes

Wallace Beery originally was cast as Israel Hands in director Maurice Tourneur's silent production of ''Treasure Island (1920 film), Treasure Island'' for Paramount Pictures, Paramount in 1920 (now a lost film). Beery was replaced by Joseph Singleton but appeared that year in Tourneur's silent masterpiece ''The Last of the Mohicans (1920 American film), The Last of the Mohicans''.

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 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
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