Release Date: December 21, 1960
Watch Date: July 24 – July 28, 2023
“This spectacular screen version of the literary classic is full of breathtaking South Seas scenery, hundreds of exotic animals and treacherous pirates. The heroic tale chronicles the courageous exploits of the Robinson family after they are shipwrecked on a deserted island. Using teamwork and ingenuity, they skillfully overcome the obstacles of nature and transform their new home into a ‘civilized’ community. But the ultimate challenge comes when a band of cutthroat pirates threatens to destroy the Robinsons’ makeshift paradise.”
Our hundredth movie.
We could have picked something better.
But, there was a boring few days at work, and you gotta kill some time. So we did. And we watched the 1960s version of “Swiss Family Robinson” which is great, because it means you can basically write a comparative essay between two films and a novel and that seems fun.
Bob is now rolling his eyes.
The 1940s film was slow paced, it was black and white, it had extremely heavy Christian themes.
The 1960s film is fast, it’s fun, it’s colorful.
The 1940s film is better. Here’s why:
The 1940s version of Swiss Family Robinson may have been heavy handed. Mr. Robinson may have been a terrible model of a husband and a father. But it had heart. The sons in the 1940s film improve on themselves, learn to utilize and appreciate each other’s gifts. They work together to make their island home less of a shipwreck and more of an oasis, and they do it out of love of family, not just a pure need for survival. Their relationships strengthen and they come out the other side better people.
The 1960s version has no heart. The boys have their personality traits, however annoying, and that is how they stay. Fritz is a cardboard cutout, Ernst is an annoying know-it-all, and the baby is…well that kid is just obsessed with animals no one wants him to have again. There’s no growth, there’s no learning, there’s no internal reflection. Because a family being stranded on an island isn’t exciting enough for the 60s. Oh no, you need to add pirates, led by a white man portraying an Asian person, and you need to have romance, and you ideally need to have a flighty girl as the lead romantic interest that causes the two eldest boys to get involved in some weird love triangle.
The parents have a much healthier relationship this go around, but that just kind of makes them dull. There’s no push and pull, no drama. Mrs. Robinson is a worrywart, but otherwise she just goes along with whatever Mr. Robinson wants, and she was all for the move to New Guinea – which we are told a bunch. We don’t actually get to see what anyone thought of the move, which again seems to be mostly positive, because we start off with the shipwreck. There’s no lead up, no idea what life was like before the island, no idea what the boys were like or what they thought. Just bam, pirates chased us into a storm.
Despite all the action and intrigue I found this film to be way more boring, and so did Bob. As he told me. Often. Lamented. Whined. If you asked him right now to tell you any part of this film he’d complain about racism and animals from multiple different continents living on the same island being explained away by a ‘land bridge’. Alright, maybe a ‘land bridge’ explains an isolated population of tigers and Indian elephants. But explain the ostriches, the zebras? Or how long a land bridge would have to be to get an anaconda over there, or several macaws.
Also, did we need to have a scene where a tiger is attacked by dogs? Did a zebra have to be stuck in the mud and clearly terrified while surrounded by hyenas? Did we have to wrestle a real life anaconda? Animal cruelty regulations existed in Hollywood by this point, so how any of this got past whoever actually checks to see if films are following those guidelines I will never know.
If you have to pick between one of these films, pick the older one. Newer is not always better.
Doc and Bob's Disney Adventure 
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