Long John Silver

Long John Silver (1954)

In this sequel to Treasure Island, Long John hopes to rescue his friend Jim from a rival pirate and return for more treasure.

Date of release
1954-12-16
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (25)
Runtime
1h 46m
Genres
Adventure, Action
Director
Byron Haskin
Collection
Long John Silver Collection

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Australia

Long John Silver, also known as Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island, is a 1954 American-Australian adventure film about the eponymous pirate Long John Silver, with Robert Newton repeating his starring role from Walt Disney's 1950 feature Treasure Island. It is a sequel to the original novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Newton's billing in the opening credits states, "Robert Newton as Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal", followed by the title Long John Silver, presenting Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal Long John Silver as another of the film's alternate titles.

Production

Walt Disney's film of Treasure Island (1950), starring Robert Newton as Long John Silver, had been very successful at the box office. Because the novel was in the public domain, producer Joseph Kaufman decided to make a sequel in which Newton reprised his role.

The film was produced by Treasure Island Pictures Pty. Ltd. The company's dominant shareholder and financier was Joseph Kaufman. The minor shareholders were director Byron Haskin, writer Martin Rackin and star Robert Newton.

The producer chose Australia to film, rather than Egypt, as a number of other films had been successfully made in Australia to reduce production costs, which was a common practice in the 1950s for US and British films, as the Australian crews spoke English. Part of the funding from the film came from notorious Wall Street financier Louis Wolfson.

Byron Haskin had experience working with Australians on His Majesty O'Keefe (1953) and cast several actors from that film, including Grant Taylor, Muriel Steinbeck, and Guy Doleman. Doleman was selected to play Israel Hands but refused to grow a beard and wear contact lenses which were required for the part. He dropped out and Rod Taylor stepped in instead. The only actors imported were Robert Newton and Connie Gilchrist.

The film was shot in and around Sydney during 1954. Most of the filming was done at Pagewood Studios, where large sets were built representing a pirate ship, seaport and waterfront street. The filmmakers also constructed a galleon on a barge at Botany Bay, and filmed a sea battle between six foot model ships in Port Hacking.

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