IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS: Blu-ray (Walt Disney, 1962) Disney Club Exclusive
Very loosely
based on Jules Verne’s 1868 adventure novel, ‘Captain Grant’s Children’,
Walt Disney’s In Search of the Castaways (1962) remains gimmicky,
gushing with frothy ‘feel-good’ family fodder and star-packed with heavy-hitters,
Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, and Walt’s home-grown ‘discovery’,
Hayley Mills – 3 pictures into her 5-picture studio contract. In hindsight, ‘Castaways’
does not hold up nearly as well as Pollyanna (1962) or The Parent
Trap (1961). It was, however, for its time, a bell-ringer at the box
office, with a world-wide intake of $21,745,500, making it the 3rd
highest-grossing movie of the year. Directed by Disney fav, Robert Stevenson,
and barely running just a little over an hour-and-a-half, In Search of the
Castaways is rather optimistically pitched yarn. Ironically, and given
Mills’ monumental build-up and status in the two aforementioned Disney
classics, she really plays second fiddle here; our hearts, mostly aligned with Chevalier’s
whimsical academic, Prof. Jacques Paganel, as he bribes, cajoles, coaxes and
otherwise cons his two young charges (played by Mills and Keith Hamshere as
Mary and Robert Grant, respectively), as well as the enterprising, if slightly
dotty, Lord Glenarvan (Wilfred Hyde-White) into an epic search and rescue
operation for the survivors of the S.S. Britannia, rumored to have mysteriously
gone down at sea with all hands, including the children’s father, Capt. Grant
(Jack Gwillim). Along the way, these unlikely seekers of the truth encounter a
Patagonian Chief, Thalcave (Antonio Cifariello), escape a perilous earthquake
in the Andes, and narrowly avoid some ruthless gun-smuggling cutthroats, helmed
by the notorious Thomas Ayerton (George Sanders, in a role originally slated
for Charles Laughton, who died of renal cancer before production got underway).
Interestingly, Hamshere – London’s West End Oliver! was not
originally slated to do the film; the part gone to him only after Haley’s own
brother, Jonathan passed. Even more fascinating, publicity art for ‘Castaways’
shows Hamshere taking pictures of his co-stars between scenes with his own
camera, prefiguring his adult career as a stills photographer on Star Wars
(1977) and several of the James Bond movies.
Eager to mature
his most popular ‘leading lady’ from child to burgeoning tween-age pin-up,
Walt gave Haley a love interest this time around; the captain’s teenage son, John
Glenarvan, played with affecting male charisma by Michael Anderson Jr. (yes,
the son of the director of Michael Todd’s Around the World in 80 Days,
1956). Anderson Jr.’s appeal rivals that of Haley Mills; thus, it remains a
genuine wonder – and shame – Walt did not pair them again as a ‘couple’ in subsequent
outings. Indeed, Anderson and Mills had made their debut together in 1959’s Tiger
Bay. Between 1956 and 1998, Anderson
Jr. appeared in 72 movies, including The Moonraker (1958), The Sundowners
(1960), Major Dundee (1965), The Glory Guys (1965), The Sons
of Katie Elder (1965) and Logan's Run (1976) – a prolific body of
work, to say nothing of his renewable popularity on television throughout the
1970’s and 80’s. In, In Search of the Castaways, Anderson’s John
soothingly serenades Mary with a banjo, works his magic on his crusty father,
enough to repeatedly convince him to pursue a message in a bottle, and,
finally, bravely battles Ayerton’s minions – much older and far more ruthless
than he – all, to win a girl’s affections. It’s a robust performance, and, in
many ways, stands ahead of Mill’s rather nondescript Mary, who spends a good
deal of the run time skulking and sulking until help is on the way. In Search
of the Castaways is heavily-laden with special effects at a time when
effects were hardly a perfected part of cinematic storytelling. Herein, Walt
again placed his faith in matte artist extraordinaire, Peter Ellenshaw. While
Ellenshaw’s stationary mattes prove superb – remember, cast and crew never left
England’s Pinewood Studios to make this globe-trotting spectacle – the travelling
mattes leave a good deal to be desired; Paul Beeson’s cinematography,
occasionally revealing the rather obvious crop lines between full-scale sets
and Ellenshaw’s extensions into infinity; the rear projection/blue-screen
mattes creating disturbing halos and rotoscope outlines.
In Search of the
Castaways was Uncle Walt’s big Christmas release for 1962 and it marked Disney’s
return to the works of Jules Verne, untapped since the monumental undertaking
of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) – then, the most expensive movie
ever produced in America. Tapping into Verne’s verve and fantastical Victorian
imagination, Walt gave In Search of the Castaways – first – to Peter Ellenshaw,
imploring him to envision the book’s various vignettes in sketch form. From
here, Ellenshaw’s art was handed over to screenwriter, Lowell S. Hawley, with
the express instructions to make his screenplay fit Ellenshaw’s visuals. Walt also decreed that Hawley reshape the
narrative to favor Haley Mills’ distinctive persona, while ever-so-slightly
encouraging her to undertake new ‘acting challenges.’ “One of the nicest things about making movies
for Walt Disney is that I get to play a girl my own age who enjoys life as much
as I do,” Mills noted in an interview given while the picture was still
being made. Mills and co-star, Maurice Chevalier got on spectacularly. Indeed,
Chevalier, an old-campaigner since the mid-1930’s, with an Oscar-win for 1958’s
Gigi, was enchanted by Mills, adding “She has warmth and humor
without being sticky sweet. She never overacts.” And Chevalier was equally
generous in his praise of Walt, who mirrored his delight by referring to his
co-star as ‘the always effervescent Maurice Chevalier.’ “It was a great opportunity for a man of my
years to work with Walt Disney,” Chevalier later explained, “I have
always admired this great man. He captured the hearts of all the world’s
peoples with his wholesome, refreshing entertainment.” As a pledge of his
loyalty, Chevalier would later come out of retirement to sing the title tune to
1970’s The Aristocats, a movie made nearly 4 years after Walt’s death
and released barely 2 years before Chevalier’s own, from kidney failure after
attempting suicide; a very sad end to a great boulevardier. To capitalize on In
Search of the Castaways, Chevalier agreed to collaborate with Mills on ‘Teen
Street’ – a concept album released under Walt’s prestigious Vista label.
Ironically, the singular
aspect for which In Search of the Castaways was near unanimously praised
when it premiered in 1962 – Peter Ellenshaw’s veritable toy box of
mind-boggling special effects – has dated the picture ever since, and rather
badly upon repeat viewings. I recall watching In Search of the Castaways
as part of ABC’s Disney Sunday Night Movie programming in the early 1980’s
– interminably edited to fit the constraints of its hour-long broadcast format
and interrupted by commercials aplenty to pay the high rent on this prime time
piece of television real estate. Yet, even for this primitive epoch, and long
before the advent of CGI, Ellenshaw’s SFX looked second-rate. The avalanche, as
example, is done almost entirely in miniature, with crude models to depict our
cast’s slalom down the mountain, intercut with live-action close-ups; our
stars, transparently, being rocked on a gimbal with a slight wind effect to tussle
their hair, reacting to rear-projection plates of the careening landslide gaining
rapidly behind them. True, the great Hollywood legacy of yore employed similar
trickery to stage every natural disaster known to mankind. But even for 1980, and
on a barely 24-inch tube monitor, the results became more hokey than quaint, the
suspension of disbelief never conquered for an instant. And although Walt
lavishly appointed In Search of the Castaways as his Jules Verne-ian
follow-up to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – the lack of genuine location
shooting this time around really hampered ‘Castaways’ travelogue journey
half way around the world. Whatever the virtues in Ellenshaw’s contributions to
the picture then, it is painfully obvious cast and crew never left Pinewood Studios
for a moment.
“Castaways was a
movie full of miniatures and mattes,” Ellenshaw recalled years later, “We would spend
all day setting up complex special effects scenes… and through it all, the
support of a great crew.” Tragically, confining such an epic adventure
to four sound stages at Pinewood strained even the Disney artisans’ creativity.
For the epic flood sequence, Walt imported 600 Ombu tree branches, flown in
from Argentina, the rest of the 150-foot-tall South American Ombu, an Ellenshaw
matte. In Search of the Castaways greatest asset is undeniably, William
Alwyn’s gorgeous score, featuring a romantic main title and charming incidental
cues, augmented by songs from Richard and Robert Sherman – the song-writing duo
to pen some of the studio’s legendary pop tunes. Alwyn’s contribution, however,
deserves particular mention; Alwyn, who showed early promise, entering London’s
prestigious Royal Academy of Music at age fifteen, and quickly thereafter
becoming a virtuoso flautist with the London Symphony Orchestra. From 1926 to
1955, Alwyn also served as professor of composition at the Royal Academy; a
most distinguished linguist, lyricist, and musician, serving as the Chairman of
Britain’s Composers' Guild from 1949 to 1950, then again in 1954. Writing music
for film only occupied a small corner of Alwyn’s accomplishments, to include five
symphonies, four operas, several concertos, and 70 movie scores from 1941 to 1962.
For Walt, Alwyn contributed scores for 1959’s sadly underrated, Third Man on
the Mountain (the movie, serving as the inspiration for the creation of the
Matterhorn bobsled attraction at Anaheim’s Disneyland) and a truly memorable –
perhaps, even symphonic – underscore for 1962’s Swiss Family Robinson.
Alwyn’s involvement on In Search of the Castaways is slightly blunted by
the Sherman brother’s bouncy songs – catchy, but disposable, for Maurice Chevalier
to warble with his bon vivant’s Gaelic charm – (‘Merci Beaucoup’, ‘Grimpons!’,
the Castaway’s theme, and – most memorable, by far, ‘Enjoy It!’). The
songs, however, are arbitrarily inserted and serve no purpose, except to
deliberately pause the story for Chevalier to serenade us.
In Search of the
Castaways opens in Walt’s fanciful recreation of 19th century England.
Arriving at the navy shipyard, where Lord Glenarvan’s elegant tall ship is
moored, and, on the eve of an elegant soiree no less, Prof. Paganel, toting Mary
and Robert Grant, implores one of the security guards (Ronald Fraser) to let
them pass. Alas, the guard has his orders and refuses them entry, even after
Paganel explains he has discovered a message in a bottle he regards as definitive
proof the children’s father, Capt. Grant – already presumed dead for six months
– is still very much alive. Unable to convince the guard to change his mind,
Paganel next encourages Mary and Robert to sneak into the party, creating
precisely the perfect diversion that allows him to effortlessly pass and board
Lord Glenvaran’s vessel. Once aboard, Paganel indulges in some absurd culinary riches,
drawing undue attention to himself with his gluttony. Meanwhile, Mary and
Robert are captured by Glenvaran’s son, John, who is mildly amused by Mary’s
protestations, enough to take her directly to meet his father. In short order,
Mary, Robert and Prof. Paganel meet Lord Glenarvan in his private suite. Again,
Glenarvan is unimpressed. He has entertained hundreds of claims about Capt.
Grant’s survival, only to be bitterly disappointed. Now, he is weary to accept
yet another at face value.
Mary, pert and
persistent, however, has captured John’s heart. And so, with a little bit of
coaxing, John convinces his father to change course from Dartmouth and sail to
South America, where Paganel has stressed Capt. Grant must be. Unfortunately,
Paganel has misinterpreted the contents of the message. Glenarvan hires local Indian
trackers to lead them high into the Andes Mountains on pack mules. Alas, Glenarvan’s
party hits a snag when the trackers foretell of a pending earthquake and
abandon the expedition, leaving the searchers to hightail it on foot down the
other side of the mountain – a trek of many days. Mercifully, an earthquake
does strike, dislodging the ground on which everyone stands. This turns the
earth into a toboggan that, with a little bit of luck, effortlessly races down the
mountain side and towards the valley where, it is presumed, Capt. Grant is
being held prisoner by a local tribe. Robert is taken by a giant condor.
However, before the bird can fly away and feed Robert to its young, it is shot
and killed by the benevolent Patagonian Chief, Thalcave, who thereafter offers
to take Glenarvan and his party to the Indian village to negotiate for the
captives’ release. Seeking refuge at nightfall in a gargantuan Ombu tree, the
castaways are assaulted by an impromptu tsunami, driving a spotted leopard to
take refuge in the dense underbrush alongside them. After several days, trapped
within the upper branches, the magnificent and sturdy tree is struck by lightning
and set afire; the castaways, spared certain death by a thunderstorm. Alas, the
Ombu is uprooted and destroyed by a water spout.
Thalcave arrives
by canoe, rescuing the stranded gathering, and takes them to the Indian village.
Regrettably, Grant is not among the refugees there, and Paganel realizes his
terrible mistake. Grant is not in South America. He is in Australia. Making
their way to the river’s edge, Lord Glenarvan and his troop are confronted by the
notorious gunrunner, Thomas Ayerton, who implores Glenarvan to take him and his
men aboard as they prepare to sail. Ayerton assures Glenarvan that the many
crates his crew are loading aboard are ‘trinkets’ to barter with the natives
for Grant’s release. But once at sea, Ayerton attempts to get Glenarvan to
change his course, suggesting the Britannia went down just off the coast of New
Zealand. Unaware, Ayerton was third mate on the Britannia, and, in fact, the man
who incited its mutiny and set Capt. Grant, along with his first mate, Bill
Gaye (Wilfrid Brambell) adrift, to be captured by Maori cannibals, John
eventually learns the truth, and together with Mary, plots to warn Glenarvan of
Ayerton’s deception. They are too late, and Ayerton now sets Glenarvan and his
party adrift in a row boat. Arriving on the island with the tide, Glenarvan is
shocked to learn Ayerton’s consignment of guns is meant to start a war between
the native tribes. Discovering the crew of his ship taken prisoners, Glenarvan,
Mary, John and Paganel conspire to free the men and regain control of the ship.
In the shuffle, it is revealed that Capt. Grant is alive. Bewildered at his
good fortune, Paganel and Glenarvan are moved to tears by Grant’s fateful
reunion with his children, whereupon Bill tells all: it was he who wrote the
message in the bottle, signing Grant’s name to it. As Paganel, Glenarvan and
Grant look on, John and Mary stroll along the decks together; Paganel, astutely
declaring a romance is brewing between them.
In Search of the
Castaways is a rollicking fable, made marginally problematic by its episodic
structure, and virtual lack of character-development. The only carefully
delineated character in the piece is Paganel; Chevalier, relying on his
built-in charisma to carry the show. This, he largely does, playing the
somewhat dotty, and usually befuddled optimist. Wilfrid Hyde-White’s curmudgeonly
Lord is a hoot in coot’s clothing, while George Sander’s cad is precisely
running to form. Indeed, Sanders had a reputation, both on and off the screen,
for being a rather despicable meanie. Disappointingly, Hayley Mills – arguably, ‘the
star’ – is relegated as background fodder. Even Michael Anderson Jr. gets a
more prominent part to play. Mills’ Mary is plain and passé – just, the catalyst
to kick start the adventure, before becoming merely contented to tag along on
this harrowing trek across oceans and jungles, as though finding her father
were of no particular interest to her. This deprives us of the groundswell of
emotions exhibited by Glenarvan and Paganel at Grant’s reunion with his
children – a tacked on and very foregone conclusion. This is, after all, a
Disney movie. So, shameless tear-jerking and heart-felt empathy is only
anticipated, but expected. The difficulty here, is that In Search of the
Castaways does not offer enough of an impetus for Mary’s infrequent protestations
to become anything more or better than annoying demands. She pouts, frets,
sings a little, but mostly keeps to herself, allowing Anderson Jr.’s John to do
the heavy lifting, conniving and convincing on her behalf. In the end, In
Search of the Castaways is neither solidly situated nor even superficially
memorable as a feather-weight fantasy. It merely exists for an hour-and-a-half,
effortlessly passed, without ever enriching audiences for having seen it.
In Search of the
Castaways arrives on Blu-ray via Disney Club’s exclusive, bare-bones disc-only
offerings. The results, regrettably, are not what they ought to be. Shot in
Technicolor, the image is thick, with brassy colors and flesh tones that are much
too pink. As the movie is mostly cobbled together from matte process
photography and opticals, much of the image is at the mercy of these disparate
elements re-photographed photo-chemically, resulting in a soft quality with a
decided loss of fine details. And while it should be noted audiences of their
day were likely to forgive these anomalies, under today’s digital scrutiny, the
resultant image is uneven and lacks finesse. While I am sincerely not a fan of
altering original elements to conform with modern tastes, in In Search of
the Castaway’s case, what ought to have been applied, is a little corrective
image stabilization and DNR to massage the more obvious wrinkles into a
less-jarring, if hardly seamless, visual presentation. Worse, age-related dirt
and scratches abound during a goodly number of these trick shots. The establishing
shots of the Ombu tree, as example, shimmer uncontrollably from ever so slight
misalignment of the recombined negatives to heavy hints of edge enhancement
derived from the hi-def mastering process.
I own the
original Disney DVD release of this movie from 2002, and, in comparing the DVD
with this Blu-ray, we find the same digital anomalies cropping up in the same
spots. So, Disney Inc. has likely mastered this disc from older digital files,
rather than performing a meticulous ‘clean up’ to ready the elements for their
hi-def debut. It’s a shoddy trade-off, and unworthy of either the company’s ‘best
practice’ principles of today, or the finite talents that went into
hand-crafting this movie in the first place. It should be noted that a lot of digital
upgrading could have – and should have been performed to stabilize the
disparate mattes and rear projection, which suffers from intermittent gate
weave and glaringly reveals crop marks and seams. Overall, this is a very
unprepossessing video mastering effort that exposes age-old vices, rather than extolling
the virtues of these vintage SFX. Not a moment of this movie looks anything but
overly processed, gritty, grainy and otherwise, distracting. The 2.0 DTS audio
is adequate, though just – with Alwyn’s contributions and the songs sounding at
their best, but dialogue and other effects, otherwise tinny and short on bass tonality.
In keeping with Disney Inc.’s idiocy regarding their vintage live-action
catalog, there are NO extras. Bottom line: currently retailing at $60 USD a pop
on Amazon.com, In Search of the Castaways, while popular in its day, has
aged to vinegar, not wine. It’s not another gemstone unearthed from Walt’s
vaults, but a clunky adventure yarn, whose virtues never exceed its vices. The Blu-ray
is not up to snuff. Regrets.
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
2
VIDEO/AUDIO
2.5
EXTRAS
0
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