Treasure Island

Treasure Island (1920)

Young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure of the buccaneer Captain Flint, in this adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Date of release
1920-01-02
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 16m
Genres
Adventure
Director
Maurice Tourneur

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Treasure Island

Treasure Island is a 1920 silent film adaptation of the 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, directed by Maurice Tourneur, and released by Paramount Pictures. It starred Shirley Mason as Jim Hawkins, Charles Ogle as Long John Silver and Lon Chaney in a dual role as Blind Pew and Merry. The film was chosen as one of the Top Forty Pictures of the Year by the National Board of Review.

Production

In September 1919, announcements of the upcoming film in movie journals stated that Jack Holt would play Long John Silver and that Wallace Beery would play Israel Hands, though both roles were eventually filled by different actors. Both Holt and Beery as well as Lon Chaney and Bull Montana had appeared in Tourneur's Victory the year before. Beery later played Long John Silver in the 1934 remake.

The film reportedly had color sequences, possibly hand-colored with the Handschiegel Color Process. The film opened in New York on April 11, 1920, and some contemporary sources give that date for the film's release.

This film was actually the fifth and most lavish silent film adaptation of the story with productions made in 1908, 1911, 1913, and by Fox Film Corporation in 1918. This version was also the last silent production of the story, and the only version in which Jim Hawkins was played by a woman. Although the reviews were not especially good, the film was the most successful film Tourneur ever made, and was chosen one of the best films of 1920.

The pirate ship used in the film was an abandoned barkentine called The Fremont, which had actually been used in the African slave trade and was seized by the United States government for participating in illegal activities.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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