Shipwrecked [Haakon Haakonsen] *** (1990, Stian Smestad, Gabriel Byrne, Louisa Haigh, Trond Munch) – Classic Movie Review 13,101

Nils Gaup’s lusty 1990 Norwegian children’s action-adventure film Shipwrecked [Hakon Hakonsen] stars Stian Smestad as a cabin boy who battles a pirate captain (Gabriel Byrne), is hit by a hurricane, and is stranded alone on an island.

Director Nils Gaup’s lusty 1990 Norwegian children’s action-adventure film Shipwrecked [Hakon Hakonsen] stars Stian Smestad, Gabriel Byrne, Louisa Haigh, and Trond Munch. It is based on an 1873 Norwegian novel, inspired Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe.

Shipwrecked is an entertaining family adventure story about a young Norwegian lad (Stian Smestad) boy in 1850s England who is taken aboard a ship as a cabin boy, battles buccaneer John Merrick (Gabriel Byrne)’s pirates, is capsized by a hurricane and marooned on a South Sea island. The film starts strongly, but there’s a dip in the middle of the saga, through a powerful climax compensates.

It’s a sweet coming of age story aimed at aimed at young audiences. Haakon Haakonson, the Norwegian youth who signs on as cabin boy aboard a ship whose captain is his father’s close friend, starts off shy and timid, but has to become more confident after being stranded alone on an island and forced to survive. But the original captain mysteriously dies, and John Merrick, the pirate captain who poses as a Royal Navy lieutenant, takes over the ship Haakon is on.

The Norwegian characters speak Norwegian to each other and English to the English characters, while the English characters speak only English of course.

This Norwegian film gained a worldwide release after being distributed an English-language version by Walt Disney Pictures, where all lines in Norwegian are dubbed into English, mostly by the original Norwegian actors.

The screenplay by Nils Gaup, Bob Foss, Greg Dinner and Nick Thiel adapts Norwegian author Oluf Falck-Ytter’s 1873 Norwegian novel Haakon Haakonsen: En Norsk Robinson (Haakon Haakonsen: A Norwegian Robinson).

The film was produced by a consortium of Scandinavian companies and AB Svensk Filmindustri.

It was shot on location in Fiji, Norway, Spain and the UK from July to October 1989.

The cast are Stian Smestad as Haakon Haakonson, Gabriel Byrne as the pirate captain John Merrick, Trond Peter Stamsø Munch as sailor Jens, Louisa Milwood-Haigh as young stowaway Mary, Knut Walle as shipmate Berg, Harald Brenna as shipmate Steine, Kjell Stormoen as ship captain.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,101

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