Rating: 
Summary: A THRILLING DISNEY MASTERPIECE
Review: Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless tale of buccaneers and buried gold, TREASURE ISLAND was Walt Disney's first live action feature. Shot in England in 1949 with meticulous attention to production design, the film has striking scenes reminiscent of N. C. Wyeth's great illustrations. Wide-eyed, eager, and innocent Bobby Driscoll is a perfect Jim Hawkins and gruff, scary, and charismatic Robert Newton made stub-legged Long John Silver his own for all time. Sadly, there are no extras of any kind on this disc. The film has been restored (a few violent shots were cut in an earlier VHS release) and digitally transferred in its original, full screen, aspect ratio. It looks great. It's hard to watch the naturalistic performance of young Driscoll and not be reminded that 20 years later he would be found in a filthy, abandoned tenement, his dead body covered with needle marks. He was 32. He never recovered from the fame heaped upon him at such an early age. Treasure Island is a great film that honors Driscoll's memory and is almost true to the original story by Stevenson (there are some changes in the ending). Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Swab the deck, me matey!
Review: The Disney studios first official full length, live-action feature, TREASURE ISLAND is good fun. Although it lacks the slick story-telling flair of recent family films, the story, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, is precise and fluid. Robert Newton chews up the scenery as Long John Silver, paving the way for many lovable villains. Bobby Driscoll (Song of the South) plays the brave little Jim Hawkins (or "Jim Harkins" if you speak pirate) who gets involved in a treasure seeking adventure of good vs. evil. In the end, like the viewers of the video, the line between the two is not so well defined. That is a clever twist, especially for a Disney family film. The VHS format already shows some deterioration after a few viewings so I look forward to a DVD release but in the meantime. Yo ho yo ho, A Pirate's Life for Me!
Rating:
Summary: Arr, maties! Climb abord for a rip-roaring adventure!
Review: The first time we watched this movie I watched it for about five minutes before walking away, because it wasn't interesting to me at the time. But when I caught the last twenty minutes of it, I decided that it was interesting after all and watched it from the beginning again. I loved it! Bobby Driscoll was wonderful as Jim Hawkins, and Robert Newton gave the performance of his life as Long John Silver. The rest of the cast was also tremendous. I had tried reading the book before, but it hadn't been interesting to me, and I ditched it before I was halfway done. Now, because of this movie, I think I'll dust it off and have a go at it. Who knows, I might even like it enough to review it! :)
Rating:
Summary: Arr, maties! Climb abord for a rip-roaring adventure!
Review: The first time we watched this movie I watched it for about two minutes before walking away, because it wasn't interesting to me at the time (to tell the truth, the first two minutes are boring). But when I caught the last twenty minutes of it, I decided that it was interesting after all and watched it from the beginning again. I loved it! Bobby Driscoll was wonderful as Jim Hawkins, and Robert Newton gave the performance of his life as Long John Silver. The rest of the cast was tremendous also, and I think that this is the best version of Treasure Island ever done (not that I've seen any others). I had tried reading the book before, but it hadn't been interesting to me, and I ditched it before I was halfway done. Now, because of this movie, I think I'll dust it off and have a go at it. Who knows, I might even like it enough to review it! :)
Rating: 
Summary: Incomplete, inconsistent and misleading version!
Review: The only thing in this movie that relates to the book or the other movie versions is the Tittle. Half of the characters are missing. Much of the dialog is missing. The whole point of the story is missing.It was not nessesary for the movie as other movie versions did not do this. In an attempt to be cutesy Byron Haskin lost the mystery and the morals of Treasure Island. You definitely do not want to spend any money on this version (Bobby Driscoll) A better choice is Treasure Island (1990) ASIN: 6301670108
for that matter "Mupets Treasure Island" is closer to the book and the singing is better.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Newton is the definitive Long John Silver
Review: There have been a vast number of versions of TREASURE ISLAND, and I am sure the future will bring a great many more, but this one remains the one to watch for one and one reason alone: Robert Newton. There have been many, many fine Long John Silver's, from Wallace Beery to Orson Welles to Jack Palance to Charlton Heston, but none of these others got anywhere near to the performance of Robert Newton. One of the great character actors of the forties and fifties, Newton isn't very well known in the United States because he did only limited work in Hollywood (even TREASURE ISLAND was filmed in England, not in the Caribbean or Hollywood). But fans of film will remember him in Sir Carol Reed's great film ODD MAN OUT (he plays an artist who wants to paint the dying visage of James Mason), in Coward and Lean's THIS HAPPY BREED, and an appropriately terrifying Bill Sikes in Lean's OLIVER TWIST. Newton was a glorious ham actor, in the best possible sense, and to watch him chew up scene after scene, always being over-the-top yet taking the part with complete seriousness. He is everything one can possible imagine in Long John Silver. To be honest, apart from Newton's utterly dominating performance, there isn't much reason to prefer this version TREASURE ISLAND to any other. Apart from his Long John, the film as a whole is solid if unspectacular. While we have seen perhaps the finest Long John Silver we are ever likely to see in Robert Newton (who was so glorious in the role that Disney did both a sequel film and a television series featuring his Long John), we have yet to see the definitive film version of Stevenson's tale. The book contains darker elements than have ever been brought to screen. The 1934 MGM version (with Wallace Beery as Silver and Jackie Cooper as Jim Hawkins) is highly sanitized family fare, though it is perhaps the version with the best overall cast. It would, however, be nice to see an adult version of the tale, with all the darkness and complexity left intact. But even after that film does appear, this film will be well worth going back to just to relish Robert Newton's incomparable performance.
Rating:
Summary: One of Disney's Best
Review: There have been several movie versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, going all the way back to the silent era, but I feel Disney's film is the best. Every version has a decent "Long John Silver" - among them Wallace Beery, Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, and even Mr. Magoo. But the entire mood of this film rests on Robert Newton's inspired "Long John". No other portrayal of a pirate has influenced more actors than Newton's, and his characterization has become the stereotype of every pirate performance ever since. Even a bit of "Long John" filters into Newton's portrayal of "Mr. Fix" in Michael Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days". One important note: The cinematographer on this film was Freddie Young, who would later win Oscars for his camera work in "Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago", and "Ryan's Daughter". Though this is a Disney film, there are some moments which may be a little too violent for younger children, hence the "PG" rating. Far better for Disney to give us the complete movie as originally filmed than to whack the print with a cutlass. A must for any collection of seafaring flicks.
Rating:
Summary: One of Disney's Best
Review: There have been several movie versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, going all the way back to the silent era, but I feel Disney's film is the best. Every version has a decent "Long John Silver" - among them Wallace Beery, Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, and even Mr. Magoo. But the entire mood of this film rests on Robert Newton's inspired "Long John". No other portrayal of a pirate has influenced more actors than Newton's, and his characterization has become the stereotype of every pirate performance ever since. Even a bit of "Long John" filters into Newton's portrayal of "Mr. Fix" in Michael Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days". One important note: The cinematographer on this film was Freddie Young, who would later win Oscars for his camera work in "Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago", and "Ryan's Daughter". Though this is a Disney film, there are some moments which may be a little too violent for younger children, hence the "PG" rating. Far better for Disney to give us the complete movie as originally filmed than to whack the print with a cutlass. A must for any collection of seafaring flicks.
Rating:
Summary: Lackluster release of a classic Disney film
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Best version of Treasure Island
Review: This is the best version of Treasure Island. It doesn't exactly follow the book. In this version Long John Silver is more charismatic and lovable than in the book. The Jim Hawkins character has a sweeter, more lovable disposition. The extras of of Long John holding a knife to Jim Hawkins, Jim having to kill one of the pirates to save his life, and Long John doing what he can to save Jim gave it the extras the book didn't have.
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