"The Adventures of Long John Silver" was a television series based on the character in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, "Treasure Island". The same characters and actors appear in the series as appeared in the successful Disney movie. The original movie was made in 1950 and a follow-up movie, "Return to Treasure Island", was made in 1954. The sequel is often available on the same DVDs of pirate movies that include the episodes of the television series.
The television series was aired from 1955-1959 and 26 episodes in total were made. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get a DVD with all of the available episodes at this time. I got 14 episodes of the series on Mill Creek's "The Ultimate Pirate Collection". The quality is not the greatest, but I do not expect nice, clean prints from these old T.V. series. I'm happy if they are merely watchable and can be heard clearly. There are scratches on the film, but it doesn't detract from enjoying the series as a golden moldy. As an added bonus, getting the series through this collection also gets you the movie "Return to Treasure Island" as well.
Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John has become the default standard for "pirate" behavior. His intonation, gait, and facial expressions are campy, but fun. It was his interpretation of a pirate that was made fun of in one of Monty Python's sketches where a newscaster slowly turns into a pirate. Mr. Newton passed away from complications related to alcoholism in 1956 and I wonder if there would have been more of this classic T.V. show had he survived. It would certainly have been welcome.
This was the first of the classic television series that I discovered and the catalyst for my searches for similar adventure series. Before discovering it on my "The Ultimate Pirate Collection" discs, I did not realize that such series had been made.
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