Customer Reviews

Mr Robinson Crusoe [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is as fun and enjoyable a movie as I have seen for some time. The early days of film produced some wonderful movies, and this 1932 classic is more fun that a barrel full of monkeys. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., plays a happy-go-lucky fellow who is so taken by the beauty of the uninhabited islands of the South Seas that he decides to forego his intended hunting expedition and settle on the nearest deserted island. His friend bets him he will be tied to a stake by cannibals by the time the ship returns the next year, and he in turn swears he will turn the island into his own private Manhattan. With one thousand dollars riding on this friendly bet, Fairbanks' unnamed character jumps into the water and makes for shore with absolutely nothing but the shirt on his back; his loyal dog follows him, and they quickly set up shop on the island. This guy may have led a pretty easy life, but he is amazingly adept at island-settling; he makes the Professor look like Gilligan. After finding food, water, and a suitable spot for shelter, he's immediately making his own tools and making a mockery of the term "roughing it." He builds an impressive house (set on stilts, no less) and all kinds of furniture, sets traps for catching game, and creates his own private work force of animals. His Dr. Doolittle skills soon have his pet monkey milking a captured goat, the goat operating a treadmill under the supervision of the dog, a tortoise slowly turning a wheel to power a sort of water wheel, and that's just the beginning. He builds his own 18-hole golf course, has the monkey trained to bring him drinks at "the 19th hole," makes his own radio out of slightly more than a couple of coconuts, and does other things Robinson Crusoe would never have even dreamed of. Throughout it all, he is happy as a clam.

When a native from a nearby island turns up on the island, he easily manhandles him and tries to turn him into his own Friday-noting the fact the guy is a headhunter, he laughingly jests that he must be Friday the 13th. Friday doesn't work out too well, but he has better luck when an attractive native woman finds her way to the island after running away to escape a forced marriage. Typically, he calls her Saturday, and the two get along famously despite the language barrier. There's trouble later, when angry islanders invade his private paradise, but nothing gets to this guy. There is one aspect about the ending I didn't particularly like, but overall this movie boasts swashbuckling action and great family-oriented fun from start to finish. I especially loved the animals featured prominently in the film; the dog and monkey in particular deserved their own trailers on the set because they were bona fide great actors. A final appeal of the movie is the scenery; although black and white can't truly capture their mystical beauty, the islands of Tajiti, Fiji, Samoa and other genuine South Sea islands serve as the lavish backdrop for the wild island adventure.

Mr. Robinson Crusoe, 1932 film

The players include native people from Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, and the Marquesas islands. The story claims every man has an urge to leave civilization and get back to nature where there is freedom in a primitive paradise. A ship sails the South Seas. One man says he would like to live like Robinson Crusoe on an island, and makes a bet of $1,000. [A large sum then]. He harvests a coconut for water. His dog Rooney finds a stream. A flat rock is used for an axe. He has accomplished a lot alone. [Believable?]

A firearms permit is needed in the Dutch East Indies. [How odd for 1932 America.] The men hunt for tigers using beaters to drive the game to the hunters. Back on the island a trap catches a goat. Elsewhere a marriage is planned, but the girl changes her mind and runs away. There are more scenes of mechanical devices. A net is thrown into the sea for fishing. Robinson sees strange footprints in the sand. There is conflict. Can he build a radio? [Only in Hollywood.] The runaway bride arrives at the island. The radio brings news of civilization.

A ship lands at the big island. The man has a plan to win the bet by using the natives to scare Robinson off his island. They land and truss Robinson. But the sound of the radio scares them for a while. But a new group of strangers with a bad intent arrive on the island. They've got to leave quickly! Will the pursuers slip up? Robinson escapes to the boat. "That's $2,000 you owe me." "Saturday" comes along as a passenger. She will star as a hula dancer in the "Ziegfield Follies". And so the story ends.

You could call this "escapist entertainment". One leaves civilization for a primitive island, then returns. A young woman leaves her primitive island for civilization. The society on that primitive island seems to be as structured as our civilized society. [The house and other mechanisms are pure Hollywood hokum and not cost effective in that setting. Those who live mostly outdoors have only small shacks for minimal shelter.