''Miss Robin Crusoe'' is a 1953 American low-budget

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

produced and directed by

Eugene Frenke Eugene Frenke (1 January 1895- 10 March 1984) was a Ukrainian-born film producer, director and writer. He twice collaborated with the director John Huston on the films '' Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'' and ''The Barbarian and the Geisha''. He was ma ...

and starring

Amanda Blake Amanda Blake (born Beverly Louise Neill, February 21, 1929 – August 16, 1989) was an American actress best known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Along with ...

George Nader George Garfield Nader, Jr. (October 19, 1921 – February 4, 2002) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 to 1974, including ''Sins of Jezebel'' (1953), ''Congo Crossing'' (1956), and ''The Female Animal'' ...

and Rosalind Hayes. One of many film variations of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

's 1719 novel ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'', it features a female castaway.

Plot

On September 28, 1659, a ship founders. The captain's daughter and

cabin boy ''Cabin Boy'' is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film, directed by Adam Resnick and co-produced by Tim Burton, which starred comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for '' Late Night with Dav ...

named Robin Crusoe and a sailor named Sykes reach a deserted island. When Sykes tries to force Robin to show her appreciation for his efforts, she flees up a hill. In the ensuing struggle, he falls over a cliff and is killed. She soon settles in, building herself a

tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a han ...

. She explores the rest of the island. One day, a group of savages shows up with two women captives. She watches from hiding as they execute one in gruesome fashion. She then rescues the other, and the two fight off the men with the aid of her

flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...

. She names her new companion Friday, as that was the day of her rescue. The two women become friends. Robin teaches Friday some words. In December,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer Jonathan washes ashore after a storm sinks his ship. Robin's experiences with lecherous sailors and her cruel father have embittered her against men, and she is hostile and suspicious at first. When Jonathan learns that she is repairing a

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boa ...

that can hold only two, he suggests that the "fittest" take it and send help back for Friday. Robin, however, insists she and Friday will use the boat. Eventually, Robin overcomes her prejudice against him, and they spend the night together. The next morning, she awakens to find he has stolen the longboat and is sailing away. When he returns, she assumes he is a coward, and sets out to kill him. He informs her that he turned back for her. Before she can shoot him, however, the savages return and capture Friday. Robin and Jonathan rescue her, but are surrounded. When all seems lost, Robin admits she wants to marry Jonathan. Just then, a warship appears and bombards the attackers, enabling the trio to steal an

outrigger canoe Outrigger boats are various watercraft featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They can range from small dugout canoes to large plank-built vessels. Outrigger ...

and reach the safety of the ship.

Cast

as Miss Robin Crusoe *

as Jonathan * Rosalind Hayes as Friday

Production

''Miss Robin Crusoe'' had the working title "Miss Robinson Crusoe". When producer Eugene Franke attempted to register that title with the Motion Picture Registration Bureau, there were objections raised by Óscar Danciger, who had recently completed a film called ''Robinson Crusoe'' in Mexico, and

M-G-M Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, which was planning a film to be called "Robinson Crusoe" starring

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

. The MPRB decided in September 1953 that Franke could use either "Miss Robin Crusoe" or "Miss Robinson Crusoe". Danciger re-titled his film '' Adventures of Robinson Crusoe''. The director originally slated to helm the film was

E. A. Dupont Ewald André Dupont (25 December 1891 – 12 December 1956) was a German film director, one of the pioneers of the German film industry. He was often credited as E. A. Dupont. Early career A newspaper columnist in 1916, Dupont became a screenwri ...

. Production of the film – which was shot in

Pathécolor Pathécolor, later renamed Pathéchrome, was an early mechanical stencil-based film tinting process for movies developed by Segundo de Chomón for Pathé in the early 20th century. Among the last feature films to use this process were the British ...

– ended October 14, 1952 at

Samuel Goldwyn Studios Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the lot located on the corner of Formosa Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, as well as the offices and stages that his company, Samuel Goldwyn ...

. Location shooting took place in

Palos Verdes, California The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the Sou ...

, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.LoBianco, Lorrain
"Miss Robin Crusoe (1953)"

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

Although ''Miss Robin Crusoe'' was a low-budget film, its score is by the noted film composer

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

, who, like many others in Hollywood during the witch hunt for Communists by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

, found it hard to get work. Bernstein had not been

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

, but had been what he referred to as "graylisted", saying "I wasn't one of the big wheels of the Communist Party or anything, but I'd done enough left-wing things that between about 1953 and 1955, the major studios would have been very loath to employ me." Bernstein was forced to take work that he would not have previously accepted, such as this film, as well as others such as ''

Robot Monster ''Robot Monster'' (or ''Monster from Mars'')

'' and ''

Cat-Women of the Moon ''Cat-Women of the Moon'' is an independently made 1953 American black-and-white three-dimensional science-fiction film, produced by Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist, directed by Arthur Hilton, that stars Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and Marie Winds ...

''.O'Toole, Finton (October 28, 1990
"Elmer Bernstein Finds Himself in Tune With Movies"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Critical response

The film was not well received. Critic Win Fanning wrote in the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'': "As it is quite impossible to believe that a number of grown men and women could seriously go about the making of a movie called Miss Robin Crusoe, it must be assumed some sort of joke is intended. It isn't a very good joke, but it has its moments of hilarity."

References

External links

* * * * {{Robinson Crusoe 1953 films American adventure drama films Films based on Robinson Crusoe Films about survivors of seafaring accidents or incidents 1953 adventure films 20th Century Fox films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Eugene Frenke 1950s American films