Treasure Island

A Disney Tale: Young Jim Hawkins joins a voyage to find pirate treasure on a tropical island.

Disney Hero: Jim Hawkins (Bobby Driscoll) is a young boy who happens to be in the right place at the right time to receive a treasure map.  Passing it on to Squire Trelawny, he quickly finds himself drafted in as cabin boy for a voyage to find the treasure.  Jim is a great character.  His innocence isn't overplayed and he's a sweet character who the audience can root for.  His fondness for Silver and difficulties in knowing whether to trust him or not are extremely well-played by Driscoll.

Disney Heroine:There are absolutely no women in the speaking cast of this film.  Jim's mother is referred to but never seen and the only other women are non-speaking extras in the scenes at Bristol Docks.  To be fair to Disney, though, I don't think there are any women in the original novel either.  It's telling that, for Treasure Planet, Jim's mother gets a bit of screen time and the Captain becomes female (a female cat, but still).

Disney Villain: Long John Silver is a classic literary villain.  The one-legged pirate with the talking parrot is a well-worn trope that is familiar from many film and TV show and his 'oo-ar' pirate accent is much imitated.  Robert Newton goes to town with the role, all pop-eyed and charismatic.  It could be deemed over the top, but I rather think it works.  It's a man who plays the game and makes sure he always comes out on top.  He flits from group to group and manages to convince everyone he's on their side, only to double-cross them moments later.  But it's his growing bond with Jim that marks him out as something special.  The grudging respect that Dr. Livesey has for him also shows that, beneath the rapscallion, there's a heart and a sense of honour, even if it doesn't quite align with that of polite society.  I love Silver.

The other villains of the piece are Silver's pirate crew.  A lot more straightforwardly 'bad', they are happy to work to Silver's plan until they feel he isn't working in their best interests when they attempt to mutiny against him.  None of the pirates really made an impact performance wise although I was pleasantly surprised to see a certain Patrick Troughton playing a vicious sort who features in a set-piece where he attacks Jim.  It's a non-speaking role but the evil glint in his eye throughout the sequence (which ends up with him dead) is a far cry from his 2nd Doctor.

Disney Sidekicks: Strictly speaking there are no 'traditional' sidekicks in the film, merely supporting cast.  The likes of Squire Trelawney, Dr Livesey, Captain Smollett and the island's resident madman, Ben Gunn, provide back up to Jim throughout the film and get a few decent scenes themselves until the focus shifts more certainly on to Silver.  Gunn, I felt, doesn't really do a huge amount aside from cackling madly every now and again and providing snippets of back story to Flint's hidden treasure.

Disney Creatures: Captain Flint the parrot is the only real animal on display for this film and really he does very little except perch on Silver's shoulder and sail off into the sunset with him.  There's a scene early in the film, amusingly, where Jim meets the parrot and goes to feed him a bit of apple.  Whilst the actor, Driscoll, is reacting to something off-screen involving Silver, the parrot proceeds to bite his finger rather than the apple.

Disney Magic: Unlike later Disney pirate-themed films (and rides for that matter), Treasure Island plays it straight.  There are no ancient curses here, just solid, real life treasure on a real life island.

Disney Land: Bristol 1792 is where the story starts before we quickly make our way to the eponymous 'Treasure Island'.  It's lush, tropical, sandy and typical of what we have come to expect from far off islands holding buried treasure.

Disney Songs: Not a sausage; not even a sea shanty.

Disney Finale: This was much better than I expected it to be.  The performances from the main cast are uniformly good andI was particularly taken with Bobby Driscoll's Jim and Robert Newton's Silver.  The story is familiar, but I think this might be the first time I've sat down to watch a 'straight' version of it (no Muppets, planets or half cyborg Silver's here).  The production is excellent: costuming, sets, location work, direction and, although it's around 60 years old, it still stands the test of time rather well.  It's a film I'd certainly consider showing my children as I think there's enough action and engaging characters to keep the attention of 21st Century kids.  I'm not a huge fan of Disney's live action output, at least what was released prior to the 90s, so I didn't go into this with much expectation.  It's certainly whetted my appetite a little to seek out more of these live action features.