Treasure Island (1973)

Last autumn TCM ran a two-night spotlight on Hanna-Barbera, who are mostly known for their TV animation, although they obviously put out some movies too or else that stuff wouldn't have wound up on TCM. That animation is from an era when there was a lot of fairly low-budget animation on TV. Hanna-Barbera wasn't the only studio to put out such cheap animation. Filmation was another one, and among their movies was an animated adaptation of Treasure Island.

Jim Hawkins, voiced here by Davy Jones of the Monkees, is an adolescent lad living in 18th century Bristol, which was one of the main ports of departure from England. He lives with his widowed innkeeper mother, when a sailor who keeps an anthopomorphic rat as a pet comes in. That sailor has a map which supposedly reveals the location of secret treasure on an island in the Caribbean. The sailor warns Jim about a one-legged man. Pirates also believe this old guy had the map, since they come looking for it.

Jim and the rat are saved by Squire Trelawney and his retinue, who then commission the Hispañola, captained by Alexander Smollett (Larry Storch). Jim gets a position on board working in the galley, which is where Jim meets Long John Silver (Richard Dawson). Naturally, Jim notices that Long John Silver only has one leg of his own, although Jim develops a grudging respect for Long John Silver as well. Sure enough, however, Long John Silver is the head of the band of pirates looking to get that treasure, and they eventually take over the boat as it's about to reach the island where the buried treasure supposedly is.

Jim is no dummy, stowing away aboard the dinghy Long John Silver and some of his men take to the island. Smollett and the good guys are able to escape and make their way to the island as well, although there's the question of how they're all going to be able to get back on board the ship considering that the pirates are in control of it.

There's also the question of how they're going to be able to get off the island, considering that Long John Silver and some of his men are there too. But you probably know that Treasure Island is one of those adventure stories that's going to have a happy ending.

It's been a while since I've seen any of the earlier movie versions, notably MGM's 1930s version starring Wallace Beery or the 1950 Disney version with Robert Morley. I also don't think I've read Robert Louis Stevenson's original book, so I can't really comment on just how much liberty this animated version takes with the story. Some of the liberties, however, are obvious, such as the rat, who isn't exactly going to have been a character in a live-action telling of the tale. There's also the musical numbers, not counting sea shanties.

As for the animation, it's pretty dire with many of the same visual and sound effects you'd see on Saturday morning animation from the era. Note also that the print is 4:3, which led me to wonder whether this wasn't originally a TV production, but looking it up everything claims it was a theatrical release first. So this version of Treasure Island may appear to kids, especially young boys who want a sense of adventure. But for anyone else it's mediocre at best.