czarina-yelena I'm not sure where all the 10/10 and 9/10 reviews are coming from. This is a faithful adaptation of the book - so much so that you may as well be watching a dramatic reading, but that's the only good thing about it. Christian Bale's Jim Hawkins sounds perpetually bored, worst of all when he's narrating behind the scenes like he's reading aloud in class. The settings are Hollywood-sanitized and look like the backdrop of a play, none of the grit of the 2012 British version.A good adaptation has heart and adds something of its own to the story. This version does neither.

bkoganbing In a commentary to the DVD of Treasure Island director Fraser Heston said that the genesis of this film was as a lad he heard Charlton Heston read the story to him. Robert Louis Stevenson's classic is an adventure story that has appealed to know about 15 generations and Fraser got to hear his father read the story playing all the parts with different accents. I'm betting this was the genesis of Charlton Heston's interpretation of Long John Silver. If so this film was about 35 years in the making. Not to dismiss the Wallace Beery/Jackie Cooper version or the Walt Disney version with Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll, but Fraser Heston's version is a darker version. The other two concentrated on the relationship that develops between Silver and the lad Jim Hawkins with Silver as rogue and surrogate father figure to straight arrow Hawkins. This version emphasizes a very ruthless Silver and a much older Hawkins than either Driscoll or Cooper were played by Christian Bale. Young Bale is no kid the adults have to protect, he aids in the fighting and is if not mature very capable.The other parts of the legendary adventure are filled most capably with seasoned veterans like Oliver Reed as Captain Billy Bones, Richard Johnson as Squire Trelawney, Julian Glover as Dr. Livesey, and Isla Blair as the widow Hawkins. Most important and unforgettable is Christopher Lee as Blind Pew. Most of these people worked with Charlton Heston before so it was a family shoot in every sense of the word.Charlton Heston's interpretation of Long John Silver is unique and maybe closer to what Robert Louis Stevenson had in mind. But what a treat young Fraser Heston had to see that one man show of Treasure Island his father put on. If only cameras had been rolling.

AaronCapenBanner Fraser Clarke Heston directed his father Charlton Heston, who plays pirate Long John Silver. Christian Bale plays Jim Hawkins, who runs a coastal Inn with his mother, and encounters drunken pirate Billy Bones(played by Oliver Reed) who lets slip that he has a treasure map from Captain Flint's ship. The Inn is attacked by pirate Blind Pew(Christopher Lee, quite menacing) who also wants the map, but is forced back by the authorities, led by Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesy, who, along with Jim, take to the high seas in pursuit of the treasure, with Long John Silver also aboard, and planning mutiny...Among the best remakes in cinema history, with an outstanding script that brings Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel to vivid life, along with a sterling cast and lush production that is high adventure of the first order.A classic!

boll-weavil Most of the comments expressed so far have correctly pointed out this version as the best and, unlike someone's reference to George C Scott's Scrooge, it does actually come directly from the book and not from years of ingrained television adaptations.The reason it is so good is because it echoes correctly the strata of fear that the book is based on. As a child, Jim Hawkins is scared of everyone from the physically hideous Blind Pugh to the men of bloodthirsty reputation - Israel Hands and Blind Pugh and that fear is shown by the pirates in their reverence for Captain Flint and of course, Long John, who commands by reputation alone.In preserving this intact, the whole book and thus, the film, is believable.I know people question some of the language (incorrectly in my view as all those words were spoken by landsmen not natural sailors and were very much in use in that time - the word 'bugger' for example, appears in the diaries of Pepy's hundreds of years earlier).Its easy to say that the film draws influence from early versions but that's inevitable. The Chieftans soundtrack and a very fine cast make it far superior and much more believable. As someone said earlier, you need a proper Silver who can both turn on the charm to convince a young lad but also control a band of cutthroats and Heston achieves that superbly well. You can see clearly how easily intimidated the pirates are because they are uneducated and that's obvious from the exchanges between them and Long John. Postlethwaite is brilliant in these and totally convincing ! Finally, I think someone mentioned a continuity problem earlier.Although having run off, Jim does see a pirate killed, this is only after he has jumped off the jolly boat and run inland.The two aren't connected.He does that for devilment I think and there are other examples of his reckless behaviour elsewhere in the book. What a great story though - the triumph of the stereotypical English gentlemen over the bloodthirsty pirates.I think we all agree on here, this interpretation is spot on !