24 May 2021

In Search of the Castaways

 

In Search of the Castaways 1962

  • Director: Robert Stevenson
  • Seen by this director: Mary Poppins, Darby Gillis and the Little People, Old Yeller
  • Based on the novel by Jules Verne
  • Cast: Hayley Mills, Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, Keith Hamshere, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr, Wilfrid Brambell
  • Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
    • Hayley Mills – The Family Way, The Trouble with Angels, The Truth about Spring, The Moon-spinners, The Chalk Garden, Whistle Down the Wind, The Parent Trap, Pollyanna, Tiger Bay
    • Maurice Chevalier – Pepe, Gigi
    • George Sanders – Various TV series, A Shot in the Dark
    • Wilfrid Hyde-White – My Fair Lady
    • Michael Anderson Jr – TV series
    • Wilfrid Brambell – A Hard Day’s Night
  • Why? A childhood favourite.
  • Seen: Once before. Now 24 May 2021.      

       Young Mary Grant (a growing up Mills), her little brother Robert (Hamshere) and Professor Paganel (Chevalier) crash a posh party on board ready to sail from Glasgow in 1858. They have found a message in a bottle from the children’s father, a sea captain long disappeared and presumed dead.

       Next stop the Andes, and then a flash flood, and then New Zealand. There’s a few songs, a few exciting moments and very little substance. Jules Verne will be spinning in his grave.

       Still, it was good entertainment for my 12-year-old self and to my surprise also for my considerably older self.

       The ‘you’re all right for a girl’ puppy love and noble/bumbling savage could have been edited out but for a kid’s film from the early 60’s it’s acceptable. 

 2 ½ * of 5

 

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