Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966)

Country: USA
Director: Byron Paul
Production Co: Disney
Genre: Comedy, Family
Rating: 6.1/10
Length: 110 mins

Storyline

Lt. Robin Crusoe is a navy pilot who bails out of his plane after engine trouble. He reaches a deserted island paradise where he builds a house, finds an abandoned submarine with lots of gadgets that he can use, and also finds a marooned chimp from the US Space program and a native girl named Wednesday who was exiled by her father. Wednesday thinks Crusoe wants to marry her, and when her father arrives on the island to collect her and Crusoe refused to marry her, chaos ensues.—Marta Dawes

Plot Keywords

character name as title, chimpanzee, ape, alone, shark, lifeboat, survival, lost at sea, castaway, helicopter, based on novel, playing cards, fireworks, island, pilot, bamboo, fire hose, flamethrower, women's rights, golf

Short Review

Odd, not in a good way.In a lot of parts, 'Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.' does feel like a retread of 1960's 'Swiss Family Robinson' - the plot has differences, but you could possibly make a case for it being a paint job on that aforementioned film. Too cynical? Probably.For a comedy, there's a real lack of entertainment and humour. I don't think I laughed once. As for the cast, Dick Van Dyke is the best part of this film, though his character is rather forgettable. Nancy Kwan is decent but hardly gets to show off any of her acting abilities to be honest.I'm not sure I entirely get the message, either. Women's rights? The ending, which kinda comes out of nowhere, goes against that. As a whole, this is too slow paced and uninteresting for me.