Treasure Island (John Hough, 1972)

If this movie was a human it would be a cheerleader. So many people have walked over it, rewritten it, directed it. It's amazing it turned out as good as it actually is!

In 1964 Orson Wells struck a deal with a Spanish producer to direct Treasure Island and Chimes at Midnight at the same time. It was the last movie that meant something to him, but efter five days of shooting Treasure Island the shoot was shut down. Somehow Welles still was under contract, and many years later he had to fulfill his job as an actor when the film finally became reality. The script he written (and rumours say that Jess Franco was involved also) was rewritten by Antonio Margherit (among others) and the directing duties was given to John Hough, a very competent director who the year after gave us the masterpiece called The Haunting of Hell House. 

Margheriti directed the Italian version and, I guess, Andrea Bianchi (Burial Ground!!!!) directed the Spanish version. Involved was also German softcore director Hubert Frank, maybe as a writer (I guess he worked on the German language version of the film). The cast is also cool. Except Welles a lot of interesting eurocult actors worked on it: Aldo Sambrell, Paul Müller (as Blind Pew! Brilliant casting!), Rik Battaglia, Maria Rohm, Lionel Stander and Victor Israel. The movie was now also produced by Maria Rohm's husband, the legendary Harry Alan Towers - who gave us a few of Jess Franco's best work.

So this is one helluva mix of weird eurocult connections and just like I expected, it turned out pretty good. I have no idea how much of Welles original script that was left in the end, but a wild guess is that some of it was cut for budget - but left is a fairly dark and complex story (the original book is, what I can remember, quite gruesome also) with a wonderful Welles doing a very, very manipulative Long John Silver - going from a sad-looking puppy to a mean son of a bitch within seconds. Welles wasn't happy with how everything turned out and the dubbing of him was made over one night - and yeah, the voice sounds both tired and slightly drunk! 

The visuals is gritty, dirty, quite far from the Disney version. It's more low-key, less strong colors and has an interesting, hard to pinpoint, feeling of realism. It even have some graphic violence, a few bloody squibs for example and a nice cynical touch to most of the kills. It just doesn't feels like a movie aimed to families. It reminds me of Kirk Douglas brilliant pirate-movie The Light at the Edge of the World, but that goes even further into graphic violence and is extremely far from being kid-friendly. 

Treasure Island is now out on blu-ray in Scandinavia, from Soul Media. It's both BD and DVD in the same release, and I tell you strongly to stay away from the BD. It's just an upscaled version of the DVD and the quality is TERRIBLE. It's some fucking donkey who agreed to release such a bad BD. I mean, this is 2013. We should expect better quality. The DVD looks quite good though, and because it's not upscaled it still has ok sharpness and not the weird jerky movements like the BD. Soul Media is a bit up and down when it comes to quality, so beware. Not everything is good.

I really enjoyed this slice of eurocult, but I guess it's too family friendly for the hardcore collector of Spanish sleaze and Italian horror. But I think it's well worth a purchase as a Sunday matinee. 

Comments

[Megatron]

"The script he written (and rumours say that Jess Franco was involved also)"

Could be true Fred......watch Brunnen(2005)by Kristian Petri , Jesus Franco gets interviewed there and he tells about his work with Welles in Spain.

The whole doc explores the Welles years in Spain, what he ate, talked about, saw etc.....very nice doc.

"Welles wasn't happy with how everything turned out and the dubbing of him was made over one night - and yeah, the voice sounds both tired and slightly drunk!"

Not surprised....he was an alcoholic(and mano depressive) for the most part of his life.

"The visuals is gritty, dirty, quite far from the Disney version. It's more low-key, less strong colors and has an interesting, hard to pinpoint, feeling of realism."

I only seen bits and pieces on TV.....it has been shown late at night but I always missed it.

"It reminds me of Kirk Douglas brilliant pirate-movie The Light at the Edge of the World, but that goes even further into graphic violence and is extremely far from being kid-friendly."

It sure does....but it is very entertaining flick.....Kirk Douglas did a lot of great films.

"It's just an upscaled version of the DVD and the quality is TERRIBLE. It's some fucking donkey who agreed to release such a bad BD. I mean, this is 2013. We should expect better quality."

Yeah.....this I can understand.....Professor Roger Wallis always said that film studios needs to deliver better quality, extras etc otherwise people will keep downloading.

"I really enjoyed this slice of eurocult, but I guess it's too family friendly for the hardcore collector of Spanish sleaze and Italian horror. But I think it's well worth a purchase as a Sunday matinee."

One day I will see it, love Welles and the stuff he did.

Great review and thanks.

[Aleksander U. S.]

I'm happy to see that there are other people with a similar view on this movie. It's rarely mentioned among euro-cult fans. This was actually the first movie I ever got on VHS as a kid. I made a video about it last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylRfG0lk6k