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Monday, April 12, 2021

THE ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974)

Reasonably good Family Adventure Fare sounds like damning with faint praise (it is!, it is!).  But with Disney churning out so much formulaic junk at the time (tv types in toothless, technically shoddy, safe-for-the-kiddies retreads), this pleasant mediocrity positively glows in comparison.  A late credit for Disney house director Robert Stevenson, it shows more care in story & special effects than was studio norm at the time.  (And a much better than usual score: out with George Bruns’ ‘Mickey Mousing’ musical tricks/in with class composer Maurice Jarre.)  Some sloppy process work & unconvincing double-exposure looked dated even at the time (and keeps this one best for the 12 and under set), but matte paintings & model work evince real charm & picture-book imagination from designer Peter Ellenshaw & artist Alan Maley.  Plus, no plodding in its well-plotted story about a turn-of-the-last-century search for a missing son, lost in some mythical Viking island.  As if Jules Verne did a rewrite on James Hilton’s LOST HORIZON.*  Donald Sinden steals the film as the single-minded Edwardian father; David Hartman (a last acting gig before switching to tv host) is all rumpled surprise; and Asian-American actor Mako engaging as ever as an energetic Inuit guide.  And once their enchanting dirigible crash lands on the mysterious island civilization, there’s even a worthy opponent, a grand villain dressed in red, encircled by flames.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *As mentioned, Frank Capra’s LOST HORIZON/’37 (with two Write-ups!).  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/07/lost-horizon-1937.html  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/07/lost-horizon-1937.html   OR: Disney’s first big Live-Action pic, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA/’54, the obvious template here, with the James Mason & Kirk Douglas dynamic much like Sinden & Hartman.

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