Lazy weekend afternoon, what better time than movie time. Its another classic from Disney. I said the title to my mum and she just said, 'oh no, that film was terrible'. I strongly disagree.
In Search of the Castaways was one of the childhood films you saw by accident and that you wanted to watch again and again. Similar to Swiss Family Robinson as they are both Disney, both adapted from novels and they are adventures.
Made in 1962 and adapted from Jules Verne's novel 'Captain Grant's Children, it stars Hayley Mills in her third of six Disney films. In a way she was one of the original Mickey Mouse child actors gang. Also she was in the original 'Parent Trap'. Look it up, its pretty bad. It also stars that awful french actor, Maurice Chevalier from that terrible film 'Gigi'. My mum keeps telling me he was a traitor during the war or something. One last film fact, the film was directed by Robert Stevenson who directed none other than 'Mary Poppins'.
Moving on to the story, Hayley Mills plays Mary Grant who, along with her brother Robert and their friend, Professor Paganel persuade Lord Glenarven and his son John to go in search of the Grant siblings' father, Captain Grant who went missing at sea in one of Glenarven's ships. They use a message they found in a bottle as a starting point for their adventures in the search for the castaways.
See how I worked the title into the story?
The adventures, in true Disney style of the time, not to mention Verne's style too, were actually quite dangerous, as well filled with acting in front of moving screens (which makes it that more delightful). They meet Indians in South America, get caught in an earthquake, are stranded in a giant tree during a flood and thunder storm, get caught up with gun runners in Austraila and eventually end up in New Zealand where they are captured by a Maori tribe. Don't worry there is a happy ending, it's Disney guys.
There is only one downer to whole thing and that is the annoying songs (there's only two, thank god) sung by the annoying Frenchman. Its a hilarious adventure ride with some odd geography exciting new stuff, New Zealand hadn't really featured much in Disney, not at all really, before this film.
One last thing before you all rush off to watch it, the actor Keith Hashmere who played Robert Grant, looked exactly how I thought Tintin would look, if a British film of Tintin had been made in the 60s and if he had been a bit older.
Now go and enjoy this odd gem.
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