Treasure Island [HD]

5 stars for the film. 1 star for the DVD!
I have loved this movie since I was but a wee lad (born in 1967). I had the record LP as a child and still have the VHS tape. It remains to this day my favorite live action Disney film and the best pirate movie to date. Sadly,this DVD is a travesty!!! The colors are good but there is still lots of work to be done on it to call it "fully restored". Plenty of grain remains on the print. And what's all this about no special features?!?! No 2nd disc?!?! This film is a milestone in Disney's history! Yet here it is treated as second rate! Nothing more than quick sell DVD to put on the same display self as Treasure Planet when it was being released to DVD. Now how about doing it right Disney and release this gem on Blu-ray, cleaned up real good and filled with extras. Do it like Walt was still in charge.

Lackluster release of a classic Disney film
There's no doubt about it-Disney's version of Treasure Island is a classic (particularly the iconic perfomrance of Robert Newton as Long John Silver, a role that people *still* identify as the quintessential pirate), and the restoration of this movie is pretty good, and that's why I've rated this disc 5 stars.

*But*, the extras stink. Actually, who am I kidding? There are no extras! None, not even a trailer (like the oldest Gold Collection releases even had). There's no mistaking that this disc is meant as a tie-in to Trasure Planet, but you'd think that Disney, which has gotten *a lot* better with its DVD releases in the last 18 months, would put out a disc with at least cursory features (trailers, a classic short, and maybe some vintage intro or something by Walt himself). Apparently, I'm wrong.

Walt Disney's first completely live-action film.
Like so many adventure stories, there have been numerous film versions of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". Walt Disney's 1950 live-action film gets my vote as the best version. Robert Newton, of course, steals the film as Long John Silver, but praise should also go to Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and the top-notch British supporting cast. This film has almost nothing that is mostly associated with Disney movies, including no songs or funny characters, but that doesn't bother me. I still love it, mainly because of the two main characters, Long John and Jim Hawkins, and the well-developed relationship they have.

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