Mr. Robinson Crusoe

MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE (United Artists, 1932), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, from a story by Elton Thomas (alias Douglas Fairbanks), is an odd production that parodies author Daniel Defoe's literary tale of "Robinson Crusoe" by having its central character relive the adventures of his fictional hero in an attempt by making a myth into a reality. Before the story immediately gets underway, it opens with these words: "From the time of Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, man has vainly sought to find solace, comfort and earth pleasures in an artificial world of his own creation. Down through the ages has come that eternal heritage, the urge to every man to turn his back on so-called civilization to get back to nature and reveal in the glories of freedom of a primitive paradise."

Plot summary: Millionaires William Belmont (William Farnum), Professor Carmichale (Earle Browne), and adventurer Steve Drexel (Douglas Fairbanks) are sailing together on a yacht along the South Seas bound for Sumatra to hunt tigers. As they pass an uncharted island, Drexel makes a $1,000 bet with Belmont that he could live in seclusion on the island for two months with nothing but a toothbrush (which he soon discards, along with his watch and shoes) in the manner of storybook character "Robinson Crusoe." While Steve feels he'll be found living "the life of Riley," Belmont believes he'll find him tied to the stake by hungry natives. Diving off the yacht and leaving his friends to go on ahead with their plans, Steve swims ashore with his dog "Rooney." He makes good with his wager by surviving on coconuts, pineapple and bananas, constructing a giant tree-house, making wooded street signs reading Park Avenue and 52nd Street, befriending wildlife that includes Googy, a monkey; Sooky, a talking parrot whose only reply is "Okay"; a turtle that helps pump water; and a goat for the use of its milk. Although Steve isn't quite so lucky having a Robinson Crusoe's companion, "Friday," being that of a very nervous native (dubbed "Friday the 13th") he finds and loses, Steve goes one better by acquiring a beautiful native girl he names "Saturday" (Maria Alba), who had earlier escaped a forced marriage ceremony from another island. Aside from finding solitude with Steve, who finds time teaching her the English language, she learns her the method of kissing by rubbing his nose against hers. As his two months comes to a close, it appears that Steve, now slightly bearded, might win his bet after all until his friends, having returned from their hunting trip, arrive on the island with methods of their own to win the bet.

While far from being Fairbanks' best, it's the kind of entertainment expected of him, an adventure comedy highlighted by his familiar acrobatics, amusing scenes revolving around his animal friends, slight romance climaxed by threatening dangers of a cannibal attack in the best Tarzan tradition. With its small cast and location footage filmed entirely in Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and the Marquee islands, this is very much a one man show for Fairbanks in a near solo performance with occasional cuts revolving around Belmont and Saturday in separate cases. Aside from his methods of survival, having accomplished a lot in such a short time with his man-made contraptions and ingenious inventions, thanks to his boy scout training and Dan Bear's Handy Book, it's acceptable to believe Steve could make rope out of bark and setting up fishing nets, but how is it possible for him putting together his own radio (after acquiring radio tubes from a native's neck) that miraculously picks up broadcasts from San Francisco and listening to Harry Richman vocalizing "Singing a Vagabond Song" from his 1930 motion picture musical, PUTTIN ON THE RITZ? Regardless of situations not being true to life, it's goal of vintage fun is evident throughout its 70 minutes.

Having all the ingredients of an innocently made 1920s silent film, it so happens that MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE was also distributed in the silent film tradition, with musical score, inter-titles, sound effects and the constant reply of "Okay" by the parrot and barking by Rooney. Alfred Newman's memorable underscoring of "The Moon of Manakoora" heard throughout proved so popular that it was used again for other South Seas stories, notably Samuel Goldwyn's classic, THE HURRICANE (1937) featuring Jon Hall.

Virtually unknown until the 1980s when distributed on video cassette in both silent (Video Yesteryear) and sound (Kartes Video Communications) versions, and airing on some local public broadcasting stations, at present, television revivals of MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE are rare, with known broadcasts on the Christian Broadcast Network prior to 1990, and a silent print as part of Nostalgia Channel's Saturday night presentation of "When Silents Was Golden" in 1994. Throughout those years, MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE has had the misfortune of circulating with inferior prints, thus, making this one of many films such as this in need of restoration.

Had MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE been remade in the 1940s when South Sea stories were in vogue, it would have been an interesting part of the "Road" series ("Road to Tahihi" perhaps) starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. As it now stands, this good-natured adventure tale, being more Fairbanks than DeFoe, simply displays how excellent Fairbanks can be in a role written especially for him, and what he's capable of doing when material matches his talent. (***)

I certainly don't agree that this film is over-long. I found it hugely enjoyable from beginning to end. Of course it is a load of nonsense, but I don't think it was intended to be "Hamlet".

An American leaps off his luxury yacht with nothing, except his trusty dog, to learn to survive on a deserted tropical island. And he does so magnificently - creating his own world with an ingenuity that would put Gilligan and co. to shame. The art direction is truly outstanding. And the dog is great, but tends to be up-staged by a superbly talented monkey - that can even milk a goat! When other humans arrive things become a bit dodgy politically - this is definitely both racist and sexist.

But through it all runs Fairbanks' wondrous energy. Nice location photography, unusual for its day. This evidently caused problems for the sound-recording. I suspect all the location footage was shot silent and the sound dubbed on afterwards - the lip-synching is sometimes poor. Good use of music, by Alfred Newman, again quite advanced for an early talkie. This film is tremendous fun!

A wealthy American bets his buddies he can act like MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE and stay quite happily all alone for several months on a deserted South Seas Island.

The Silent Era's greatest adventure star, Douglas Fairbanks, makes a brief return to his glory days in this lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek film which has become unfortunately obscure. With an original story by Elton Thomas (Doug's pseudonym) this was one of only four talkie films which would star Fairbanks; he also acted as producer. Released in some venues as a silent film - which explains the long sections without direct dialogue - the movie would give Doug one last bite at that particular apple.

Ever the affable good fellow, 49-year-old Doug is still agile as a cat and his innocent flirtation with lovely Maria Alba, his 22-year-old Spanish co-star , isn't too mawkish even though he's easily old enough to be her father. Miss Alba's first scene, however, quickly reminds the viewer of the movie's pre-Code standing.

Location filming in Fiji, Samoa & Tahiti are certainly big benefits to the story. Doug made sure the plot gave him the sort of scenes he loved to play: fanciful (all the wonderful contrivances & contraptions which make his tree house more comfortable) and exciting (Fairbanks gets to match wits against an entire tribe of headhunters).

Although sometimes rather intrusive, Alfred Newman's score is still richly evocative of the South Seas. He would later rework some of the melodies for even greater effect in THE HURRICANE (1937).

Douglas Fairbanks and his friends are yachting near a remote tropical island. On a lark, Fairbanks bets his friends that without any supplies, he can make a ideal life for himself. They agree to return later for him to check on his progress and so Fairbanks and his dog jump overboard--swimming to their new home.

Once on the island, Fairbanks seems excited by the prospect of creating his own home and civilizing the place. Soon, he has all the comforts of home and is quite happy--having rigged up all kinds of conveniences and really cool labor-saving devices. However, out of the blue arrives a man (who he of course christens 'Friday') and a young lady who has run away from an arranged marriage on her own island. Suddenly, his tropical getaway has become a rather crowded place! Overall, it's an amazingly interesting film considering that mostly it consists of Fairbanks doing a monologue. The gadgets helped but the script was well-written and interesting. Not a bad film at all, as it's unique and a nice variation on the old Daniel Defoe novel.

As you watch the movie, you may be a bit surprised by the nudity. While the film certainly isn't chock full of it, the film illustrates that in the days before the adoption of a strengthened Production Code in 1934, films were a lot more liberal in their sensibilities than we'd usually assume--much more so than even most films of the 1960s. The 1930s certainly was NOT a time of prudishness and repression--at least not the first part of the decade.

By the way, I have seen many silent Fairbanks films. However, with this sound film you can hear why he perhaps didn't make more talking pictures, as his voice is rather thin and high-pitched--certainly not the voice you'd expect from a matinée idol--as he was in the 1920s. But, despite this limitation, he was an amazingly spry man of nearly 50--moving about like a much younger man--almost like he did in the old days of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD and THE MARK OF ZORRO. This, by the way, turned out to be his second to last film.

Steve Drexel is sailing to Sumatra with his friends & dog Rooney when their yacht reaches a deserted island. Making a bet that he couldn't survive on the island, Drexel & his dog jump ship. Spending a month on the island they prove to be formidable survivalists. When a native girl who doesn't want to get married arrives on the island, Drexel finds himself drawn to her. But her jilted groom & an army of natives descend on the island.

An amusing skit satirising the Defoe classic, Mr. Robinson Crusoe manages to turn a classic piece of survivalist literature into a cheap comedy flick. Unless you're a trained engineer with experience in building a settlement with native materials, there is no way you could possibly make the mini city that Douglas Fairbanks does here. That is not to say that Mr. Robinson Crusoe is not a watchable film – it does have its moments. The film has its amusements but ultimately is just a lightweight comedy of which the 1930s saw a whole flood of. I was kind of surprised to see incidental nudity in the film – Maria Alba's naked body is seen reflected off the river she is bathing in – which is very unusual for the early 1930s.