Treasure Island (1934)

Take sail on the seven seas with pirates out for buried treasure in MGM’s 1934 version of Treasure Island, based on the timeless classic by Robert Louis Stevenson. In what is the most popular pirate story in the English language, Hollywood’s most glamorous production studio set out to make a motion picture that could bring all the action and adventure one could have while reading the novel. Utilizing some of films most well known character stars, MGM takes us on voyage with Jim Hawkins as he meets some of the roughest seafaring men, including the infamous Long John Silver, in search of the world most famous buried treasure. As with any film based off a large novel, not all of the story would make its way to the screen, but MGM does its best to bring the adventure to the theater for many to enjoy.

Treasure Island is an adventure picture about a young boy whose life takes a sudden turn as he is swept up into an adventure with pirates as they search for a fabled treasure marked on a map left discovered at his mother’s tavern. Jim Hawkins (Jackie Cooper) was a humble child working in his mother’s inn when the salty Billy Bones (Lionel Barrymore) barges in, setting actions in motion for a treasure hunt upon Bones’ death leaving behind a map where “X” marks the spot. Jim sets sail with the ship and its crew, becoming friends with the one-legged Long John Silver (Wallace Beery) as the ship’s cook. In truth Silver is a pirate who hired a crew that plans to take the treasure as their own. Silver tests young Jim’s naïveté and impressionability making Jim believe they are friends when in fact Silver is merely using him. When the treasure is found and Silver bound for trial on accounts of mutiny, Jim out of compassion for the pirate he perceived to have taken him under his wing, sets Silver free with the wonder if they will ever meet again.

Here we get everything we could wish for from a large story from the largest studio in Hollywood. MGM brings to the pirate Long John Silver, the young, innocent Jim Hawkins, the mysterious and loud Billy Bones, the ship the Hispaniola, and the myth of buried treasure to life. It makes for a classic style Hollywood picture with known actors, a large story, with a mix of innocence and movie magic. With the passage of time the film can still stand up to audiences willing to be lost in the story, but can also be overly innocent and childish for viewers looking for more action and emotion. It is a picture of its time and a good one at that. Not exactly the best movie of its era, it is a film people would have looked forward to in visualizing the story people would have only dreamt up in their imaginations while reading the adventure novel. Keep in mind the book was written from the young boy Jim’s point of view, and therefore a book directed for children or more accurately teenagers. This version of the story would help shape the visuals of pirates for motion pictures and would, to some, be considered to be the quintessential film version of the story.

For this version of Treasure Island we see a star-studded cast and crew, anchored by director Victor Flemming. Having taken well to mechanical skills a young Flemming started with an assistant cameraman before becoming a cinematographer, working for the likes of D.W. Griffith. Soon he became a director, mainly in the realm of adventure films, including pictures starring Douglas Fairbanks in his silent days. Flemming was a reliable director for MGM, slowly becoming one of their great visionaries. His shining moments in cinema came in 1939 when he would direct two of the all time classics The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.

The cast was filled with notable actors. The former Academy Award winner Wallace Beery gives us the portrait of Long John Silver that many had only imagined. His exaggerated movements and squinty-eyed manner, including his awful British accent, became the idea of a pirate for many future features to base themselves on. Jim Hawkins is played by the twelve year old Jackie Cooper, Beery’s co-star from his award winning performance in The Champ. Cooper, a veteran from the Our Gang shorts of the Hal Roach Studios gives Jim a naïveté that is pleasant. His acting in this picture would become somewhat the style of many innocent teen/child actors that we would one day see out of the Disney studios in the 50s and 60s, making this style of youthful acting seem annoying and unrealistic. For its time Cooper was the idea of the young boy looking at parts of the world for the first time, helping audiences capture the wonder of the places he goes and the people he meets. Lionel Barrymore must not be forgotten for his role as Billy Bones, the pirate that falls into Jim’s life starting the whole adventure in the first place. Though his time on screen is short, Barrymore commands every second he is on it with a role very important to the story. With him comes his name, from the storied Barrymore family, and added legitimacy to the grandeur of the picture.

The supporting cast was quite a group of actors as well. Otto Kruger plays Dr. Livesey, the most fatherly like figure to young Jim Hawkins, teaching him the straight path in life, serving as the ying to Silver’s yang. Still a very small role Kruger was an actor that worked his way up to better roles. Nigel Bruce plays the cheerful and wealthy Squire Trelawney, who funds the expedition. Bruce’s buffoonish characters helped him pave the way to being a grand character actor, one day staking the claim to the Dr. Watson character for many Sherlock Holmes pictures and radio shows for several years. Lewis Stone would round out the supporting cast as the captain of the Hispaniola, adding more legitimacy to the picture with his vast acting résumé.

This production of Treasure Island made for an enjoyable film indeed. It was a success of a picture, making a modest profit. Of course, the story of Treasure Island would be told many times over in the future. This would be the first major motion picture (of the sound era, as there was one silent version now lost in time) to do so and set the standard upon which all others would be based. The next would be in 1950 by Disney, which at this time (of 1934) was just a small cartoon short producing company, primarily popular for a star called Mickey Mouse. In the mean time Beery was the ideal pirate, although a very poor caricatured of one, it would be the standard of pirates for years to come, as was Treasure Island for buried treasure stories. There would be room for improvement with need for better action or better yet create a better feeling of a ship out to see, something in a way overlooked while on the Hispaniola. In all this made for a fun evening at the theater in 1934.