Swiss Family Robinson

1940

Adventure / Drama / Family

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 32% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 32% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 898 898

Please enable your VPΝ when downloading torrents

If you torrent without a VPΝ, your ISP can see that you're torrenting and may throttle your connection and get fined by legal action!

Get Surf VPΝ

Plot summary

A family setting out for a new life across the sea is shipwrecked on a deserted island. The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the jungle environment.

Director

Top cast

Thomas Mitchell as William Robinson
Orson Welles as Opening Narrator
Terry Kilburn as Ernest Robinson
Christian Rub as Thoren
480p.DVD
827.75 MB
640*480
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 100+

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by cnevel 6 / 10

Definitely a children's movie!

I had never before seen any version of this film, nor have I read the book.My mother tells me that she first saw this film when she was 10 (1946) and simply loved it. She hadn't seen it since.In the 70's she wondered what had become of this film and wrote to Frazier Thomas, host of "Family Classics", in Chicago.His response stated that Walt Disney purchased this film when his 1960 version came out and locked it away never to be seen again.She recently mentioned it again so I looked it up, and to my surprise, found it. Swiss family Robinson is a good 1940 children's film. But that is all!Thomas Mitchells acting is as good as always, and the boys did a good job acting like wealthy brats reformed by their ordeal.Did anybody notice that the youngest boy, Francis Robinson, played by Baby Bobbie Quillan, was a girl? I didn't.I think Edna Best could have done better as Elizabeth Robinson. Her acting was stiff and boring, though it may not have been entirely her fault, this is a 1940 film set in 1820.The story is ridiculous, most children's stories are, and there's too much religion for me, but I can look past these points.The special effects are dated but are reasonable for their day.This film is obviously a low budget production. It needs a good disaster scene when the captain and crew are washed overboard and more adventure on the island.If you are into nostalgia take a look.
Reviewed by r96sk 7 / 10

Entertaining flick from 1940

I thought I'd give this a watch before watching the Disney remake, given they are both on the latter's streaming service. I like 1940's 'Swiss Family Robinson', though there are many ways it could be improved upon which is what I hope the 1960 production does.This one, made by RKO Pictures, is enjoyable. The action sequences look decent enough, the acting is solid while the premise is very intriguing. I rate the film almost from start-to-finish, the moments which make up that last part disappoints unfortunately - the ending doesn't really make sense.Thomas Mitchell (William) and Freddie Bartholomew (Jack) are my standout characters, both of those two give good performances. Edna Best & Co. are all fine, though. It's with Best's character that makes the finale poor in my eyes. I won't spoil what happens, but it doesn't work in my opinion - especially in connection with what else occurs.Those criticisms of mine stop me from placing this higher. However, it is still an entertaining flick from 1940.
Reviewed by planktonrules 7 / 10

Two decades before the famous Disney version of the story.

The 1940 version of "Swiss Family Robinson" is very much like the original British version of "Gaslight". A major studio (in this case, Disney) bought up all the known prints of a film in order to prevent folks from comparing the newer version to the original. So, although the 1940 is NOT a Disney production, it is included (along with the 1960 Disney version) on the new Disney+ service.When the story begins, you learn that William Robinson (Thomas Mitchell) is planning on uprooting his family from England and taking them to Australia. You soon see why....this Swiss family has a few budding young jerks in it. One of the Robinson sons is a 'sophisticated', useless twit who has ambitions to be a richer useless twit and another who loves war and longs to be a soldier. Lacking decent values, William is intent on making his children decent and industrious and wants to get them out of Europe during the Napoleonic era. Not surprisingly, the family hates this but it is 1813....and what dad says goes. Now it is VERY easy to hate two of the Robinson sons and sympathize with William...they truly were worthless individuals and in his place, I would have considered euthanasia...not just uprooting the family to Australia! But unfortunately for William, neither occurs...they get shipwrecked along the way and must fend for themselves on a deserted island. Will it bring the family closer or forever tear them apart?A weak point of this film is that Mrs. Robinson whined and complained much more in the 1940 version...to the point where it was very tough to like or sympathize with her character. Additionally, much of the story is missing from the movie and it really seems abbreviated. And, the story itself looks like it took place over a few months at most--but the book had them there for over a decade. Compared to the 1960 Disney version, there is less action and excitement...and no pirates. On balance, the film is good and worth seeing...and quite different from the later film. My recommendation is to see them both, as they really are much like separate stories. By the way, at one point in the film, young Ernest Robinson is bitten by a tarantula and soon passes out...and nearly dies. Well, this is silly as tarantula bits are hardly venomous at all and are much like a bee sting in severity. There has never, in fact, been a recorded death attributed to this arachnid's bite. Additionally, cutting ANY bite to 'suck out the poison' is ridiculous and pointless. So, this clearly is a case where you can say "Kids....don't try this at home".
Read more IMDb reviews

2 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment