Classic Movies - Famous Child Star: Jackie Cooper - Treasure Island

Starring

Wallace Beery

Jackie Cooper

Lionel Barrymore

Otto Kruger
Lewis Stone
Nigel Bruce

and

Dorothy Peterson

Today let’s conclude talk Classic Movie Child Star – Jackie Cooper. In 1934, Cooper teamed up with Wallace Beery again in Treasure Island, an adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson of the same name. Directed by Victor Fleming, Treasure Island has an all-star cast including Jackie Cooper, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Otto Kruger, Lewis Stone, Nigel Bruce, and Dorothy Peterson. It tells a tale about young Jim Hawkins (Cooper) who discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver (Beery) threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and lives.

Rum-craving former pirate Billy Bones (Barrymore) boards at the seaside inn operated by Jim Hawkins and his mother (Peterson), and confides his dread of discovery by his old cohorts to the young boy. It soon becomes evident that Bill is a hunted man. Shortly after sundown, a blind man delivers Bill “The Black Spot,” a death sentence. Overcome, Bill later dies of a stroke, and Jim and his mother break into Bill’s sea-chest to recover what they are owed. Jim grabs a map and escapes with his mother before a small group of men break into the inn, looking for that very item. Jim shares his treasure map with the reputable gentry, Dr. Livesey (Kruger) and Squire Trelawney (Bruce), who organize an expedition to recover the buried loot of the notorious pirate Captain Flint. They decide to seek it out. The naïve squire leaves to hire a ship and crew. He does well in choosing a fine ship, the Hispaniola, and a trustworthy Captain Smollett (Stone), but makes a grave mistake in hiring one-legged Long John Silver as ship’s cook and allowing him to recruit many other crewmen. Silver, a charming but ruthless rogue, is the leader of the cutthroats who broke into the inn. He is able to infiltrate the ship with his pirate co-conspirators.

As the voyage goes on, Silver tries to persuade the rest of the crew to join him; any who refuse to join meet with fatal "accidents". Finally, the island is sighted. That night, Jim overhears Silver's plot to mutiny while hidden inside an enormous apple barrel. Realizing they are now outnumbered, Captain Smollett decides to seize the ship if enough of the crew goes ashore. Jim, though, sets foot on the island too. He wanders into the jungle, where he runs into Ben Gunn (Charles 'Chic' Sale), a little unhinged after being marooned alone on the island for years.

Meanwhile, too many pirates are left aboard, so the captain and his few trustworthy men go ashore to make a stand in Flint's old stockade. After Smollett expresses his fear that Silver will have a cannon brought from the ship to blow them up, Jim slips off into the night to cut the ship loose from its mooring. Jim grounds the ship at another spot on the island and returns to the blockhouse only to find it now held by Silver and his brigands. Silver had allowed Smollett and his men to leave in exchange for the map. The pirates want to kill Jim when he tells them what he has done, but Silver admires his spirit and stops them. They set out for the treasure, but when they reach the spot, they find only a few coins. As the disgruntled men are about to turn against Silver, Smollett and his men launch a surprise attack and kill or drive off the remaining cutthroats. In the subsequent struggle with the mutineers over the buried gold, half-witted marooned pirate Ben Gunn may hold the key to victory.

Will the Captain Flint treasure be found? What happens to Long John Silver? Watch Treasure Island to find out the answers to these questions. We recommend our favorite version from 1934. Read “Let’s Talk Classic Movies” every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for more classic movie presentations and trivia.

**Trivia Question for Today: How many movie adaptations were made from the novel Treasure Island (including the 1934 version)? What year was the first film made?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: The Champ was rescripted by writer Frances Marion in 1950 as The Clown, starring Red Skelton.