“Being the third son of a good family, and not educated to any trade, my head began to be filled early with thoughts of leaving England, to see the world.”
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Synopsis:
Slave trader Robinson Crusoe (Dan O’Herlihy) is stranded on a desert island, and must learn to survive on his own — until the arrival of “Man Friday” (Jaime Fernandez) provides him with company and assistance.
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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
- Deserted Island
- Luis Bunuel Films
- Slavery
- Survival
Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, Luis Bunuel’s “peculiar” film adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s classic adventure novel is “beautifully shot”, yet “static and thematically ambiguous”. While O’Herlihy’s “haughty slave-driver” initially “feels humbled as he must consider his helplessness and man’s insignificant place in God’s universe”, once ‘Man Friday’ (Jaime Fernandez) arrives on the island, O’Herlihy [arguably] begins to see “himself as God in this new domain”.
Suffice it to say that no steps are taken to mitigate the assumed hierarchy between master and slave; as Peary points out, this is not the film to watch if you want to see a “defiant” black man. Peary concludes his review by noting that “adults will watch this film mostly as a Bunuel curio”, while children “may respond to the colorful adventure and magical setting and [simply] be unaware of the religious themes”.
Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
- Beautiful, lush Technicolor cinematography
- Dan O’Herlihy’s commanding performance as Crusoe
- Snippets of surreality, providing evidence of Bunuel’s continued fascination with this stylistic approach
Must See?
No, though it’s worth a look simply as a curio in Bunuel’s oeuvre.
Links:
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One thought on “Adventures of Robinson Crusoe / Robinson Crusoe (1954)”
Not must-see.
At least now it’s available in a decent print, which is how I just rewatched it. I had seen it long ago in a terrible print; I think I watched it through to the end. But anyone expecting a typical Bunuel film will be disappointed. You would hardly know he was behind the camera.
I don’t think the film is ‘thematically ambiguous’. I do think that, at 90 minutes, the film seems very long. That’s bound to happen when, for most of the time, you’re following one person (on an island) on-screen.
O’Herlihy isn’t bad. In fact, it’s all a reasonable telling of the story. It’s just kind of flat and ultimately not that memorable.