Swiss Family Robinson (1940)
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Johan David Wyss' novel Swiss Family Robinson had been in print for nearly fifty years before the first film version was made by RKO in 1940. Thomas Mitchell is top-billed as the patriarch of the Robinson family, who, as in the book, are shipwrecked on a tropical island and compelled to bring the edicts and values of civilization to their tiny patch of the world. To give the story a bit of topicality, screenwriters Walter Ferris, Gene Towne and Graham Baker contrive to depict the Robinsons as refugees from a foreign war (Napoleonic rather than Hitler-inspired). Produced independently by The Play's the Thing Productions and released by RKO, Swiss Family Robinson was completely withdrawn from circulation on the occasion of the 1960 Disney remake. Side note: The 1940 version represented the feature film debut of Orson Welles, who functioned as offscreen narrator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast:
- Thomas Mitchell - William Robinson
- Freddie Bartholomew - Jack Robinson
- Tim Holt - Fritz Robinson
- John Wray - Ramsey
- Orson Welles - Narration [uncredited]
- Edna Best - Elizabeth Robinson
- Terry Kilburn - Ernest Robinson
- Christian Rub - Thoren
- Herbert Rawlinson - Captain
- Director(s):
- Edward Ludwig
- Writer(s):
- Gene Towne, Walter Ferris, C. Graham Baker
- Producer(s):
- Graham Baker, Gene Towne
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