Long John Silver *** (1954, Robert Newton, Kit Taylor, Connie Gilchrist, Lloyd Berrell, Rod Taylor) – Classic Movie Review 2059

Robert Newton returns to the incredibly popular pirate role he made his own and was clearly born to play in director Byron Haskin’s 1954 sequel to his Treasure Island (1950), this time made in Australia, at the Pagewood Studios, Sydney.

Director Byron Haskin’s Long John Silver focuses on a second visit of the buccaneering pirate captain Long John Silver and his young cabin boy Jim Hawkins (Kit Taylor) to Treasure Island as Long John hopes to rescue his friend Jim from a rival pirate and return for more treasure.

The non-Walt Disney sequel to their 1950 Treasure Island is good old-style entertainment for the young and young at heart, thanks partly to its buccaneering spirit of adventure but mainly thanks to the glorious overacting of the venerable Newton in his most fondly remembered and famous role.

But, despite the DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope widescreen filming, as well as ambitiously large sets, it is all too clearly done on a fairly tight budget and proves a notch down from Newton’s first go at the role in Disney’s 1950 Treasure Island (also directed by Haskin). The budget was $1,000,000 against Disney’s budget of $1,800,000, but then they had filmed in Australia to cut production costs, so they got more for their bucks.

However Long John Silver, shot in and around Sydney in 63 working days from 3 May 1954, is not to be looked down on, and Haskin and his cast and crew work like Trojans to provide grand entertainment. It is carefully, painstakingly crafted. Large sets were built at Pagewood Studios representing a pirate ship, seaport and waterfront street.

A galleon was built on a barge at Botany Bay, and a sea battle between six foot model ships was filmed in Port Hacking. Other locations include the Jenolan Caves (as the caves on Treasure Island), Garie Beach, south of National Park (as the coast of Puerto Bello) and the town of Waterfall (as Treasure Island).

Rod Taylor (as Rodney Taylor), then 24, has an early role as Israel Hands, acting in his second feature film. Kit Taylor’s real-life father Grant Taylor (no relation to Rod) plays Patch.

It also features Connie Gilchrist (as Purity Pinker), Lloyd Berrell (as Captain Mendoza, ‘El Toro’), Harvey Adams as Sir Henry Strong, Muriel Steinbeck as Lady Strong, Thora Smith as Elizabeth Strong, Eric Reiman (as Trip Fenner), Syd Chambers (as Ned Shill), John Brunskill (as Old Stingley), Harry Hambleton (as Big Eric), Henry Gilbert (as Billy Bowlegs), Elwin Daniel, Eric Reiman as lanky pirate, George Simpson-Lyttle as Captain Asa MacDougall, Duane Cahill as Mendoza pirate, Al Thomas as Mendoza pirate, and Harry Willis as singer.

Also in the cast are Tony Arpino, Hans Stern, Billy Kay, Don McNiven, John Pooley, Frants Folmer, Nicki Martino, Jeffrey Bradley, Fred Goddard, Kenneth J Warren, John Llewellyn, James Workman, Vladislaus Leonidis, Owen Weingott ans Valerie Windus.

With the novel in the public domain, producer Joseph Kaufman decided to make a sequel to the Disney hit, with Newton reprising his role and Haskin returning as director, and the film was produced by Treasure Island Pictures Pty Ltd, whose main shareholder and financier was Kaufman. Funding came partly from the notorious Wall Street financier Louis Wolfson, though Haskin alleged Kaufman ran out of money during production, making shooting difficult.

Haskin had experience working with Australians on His Majesty O’Keefe (1954) and cast several actors from that film, including Grant Taylor and Muriel Steinbeck. It is English-born actor Grant Taylor’s son Kit playing Jim Hawkins. Born in 1942, Kit went on to star as Jim in the TV series The Adventures of Long John Silver and later have an acting career as an adult.

It is also known as Long John Silver’s Return to Treasure Island.

An Australian TV series called The Adventures of Long John Silver of 26 episodes followed in 1955 with the same stars and cast, also shot at Pagewood Studios, Sydney, before Australia had TV.

Remakes of Treasure Island: Treasure Island (1972) with Orson Welles making a 10-course banquet of Long John Silver; and again in 1990 as Treasure Island with Charlton Heston, Christian Bale and Oliver Reed.

Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) .

Rod Taylor died of a heart attack on January 7 2015, aged 84.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2059

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