Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.

History and Review by Michael J. Ruhland














Year Released: 1966
Michael's Movie Grade: C+


                                          History

While making Mary Poppins, Walt Disney and Dick Van Dyke got along very well. With this Walt wanted to work with Dick again.


This film is the only Disney feature where the story is credited to Walt himself. However the onscreen credit does not refer to Walt by name. Instead it states "Retlaw Yensid", or Walter Disney backwards. The director of this film was Byron Paul. Paul was mostly a television director working on such shows as Gunsmoke, The Jane Forman Show, My Favorite Martian, Omnibus and Have Gun Will Travel. More important to this film he directed some episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and would later become the producer of The New Dick Van Dyke Show. Dick Van Dyke's co-star Nancy Kwan was a major star at this time. She had made her film debut in 1960 with The World of Suzie Wong, playing the title character. That movie had been a huge success and Nancy soon found herself as a major Hollywood star. The next year she made another movie in the lead role, Flower Drum Song (1961) and her star continued to rise.  

Though this was the only time director Byron Paul would direct a theatrically released Disney film, he had directed episodes of TV's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. This is actually the only theatrically released film that Byron Paul directed. Like many of the live action Disney directors of this time period, Paul was much more prolific when it came to TV. He directed episodes of such shows as 77 Sunset Strip, Ben Casey, Have Gun Will Travel and My Favorite Martian. Lt. Robin Crusoe USN was not the last time Paul would work with Dick Van Dyke as he would later be an executive on TV's The New Dick Van Dyke Show. 

During the filming of this movie, Walt took his family on a Hawaiian trip while a week of location shooting was done there. Walt's daughter Diane would remember, "The location was a wonderful time for us. We spent about three weeks at the Waiohai Hotel with mom and dad, Bill and Nolie Walsh, Bryon Paul and his family. The Van Dykes were a wonderful family. Dick's a superb human being as well as a great talent." Though there was this week of location shooting there, most of the film was shot in San Deigo with some interior shooting at the Disney studio. 


This movie was not exactly a critical success. Even critics who were fans of Dick Van Dyke, thought this movie tended to drag. Arthur Knight (who was a fan of Van Dyke) wrote in his review in Saturday Review, "There is no variety to his playing, no zest (or possibly too much zest) to his performance. Inevitably some things work out nicely, such as a protracted bit of charades played with Nancy Kwan; but this seems to be one of the few scenes that permit the buoyant Van Dyke personality to bubble through." Howard Thompson wrote in his review in The New York Times, "Most of the picture has Mr. Van Dyke mugging and tripping over lush scenery. It is neither very funny nor very new and the picture is recommended with reservations, only for the very, very young and for television fans who think Mr. Van Dyke can do no wrong." Despite this though audiences went to see this movie in big numbers and the film became a huge hit, grossing nearly $8 million. 

This movie premiered on the Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier that part of the movie was filmed in, on June 29th, 1966. The audience for this premiere included only the crew of the ship and those that worked on the film. General audiences first got to see the film on July 29th of that year. In theaters it was paired with the live action Disney short film, Run, Appaloosa, Run.

Review

An enjoyable comedy, but far from one of Disney's best. 

So much of this movie working depends on the charm of its two leads. Luckily both of them are great here. Both Dick Van Dyke and Nancy Kwan bring a real likability to this film. They are simply a joy to watch on the screen and can even carry many of this film's weaker moments. Not only this but the two play off each other very well. The best scenes are the ones that involve these two playing off each other. The (often one sided) romantic tension between the two is also handled quite well feeling very natural and charming. It also helps that they are some moments here that are truly funny, such as the charade scene and some of the scenes involving Crusoe training the army of women. There is also a real easy-going charm to much of this movie. The film also has a strong start and a strong end. To start and close strong is often one of the most important elements to a comedy. 

The main problem with this film is overlength. For such a simple storyline there is no reason for it to be as long as it is. While there are some genuinely funny moments there can also be too long of periods between laughs. Because of this the film can really drag at times. For instance the time between when our main character lands on the island and when he meets Nancy Kwan's character seems much longer than it is. Much of this is due to an unnecessarily slow pace and some not especially funny jokes. Much of the reason the jokes during this part don't play well is that Dick Van Dyke's clowning often works better when he has someone to play off of and the chimp and the bird don't fill this position as well as Nancy Kwan does later in the film. The climax of this film (despite some good gags and clever ideas) suffers from a hammy and kind of annoying performance by Akim Tamiroff as the villain and some incredibly dated special effects. 

I doubt this will be anybody's favorite of the live action Disney comedies, bur it is still an enjoyable watch. 

Film Credits

Director: Bryon Paul.

Story: Walt Disney. 
Screenplay: Don DaGradi, Bill Walsh.
Based on a book by Daniel Dafoe.

Cast: Dick Van Dyke (Lt. Robin Crusoe), Nancy Kwan (Wednesday), Akim Tamiroff (Tanamashu), Arthur Malet (Umbrella Man), Tyler McVey (Captain), Peter Renaday (Pilot), Peter Duryea (Co-Pilot), John Dennis (Crew Chief), Nancy Hsueh (Native Girl), Victoria Young (Native Girl), Yvonne Ribuca (Native Girl), Bebe Louie (Native Girl), Lucia Valero (Native Girl)

Producers: Walt Disney, Ron Miller, Bill Walsh.

Music: Robert F. Brunner, Evelyn Kennedy, Cecil A. Crandall

Cinematographer: William E. Snyder.
Camera Operator: Robert King Baggot.

Editor: Cotton Warburto

Art Directors: Carroll Clark, Carl Anderson.

Set Decorators: Emile Kuri, Frank R. McKelvy.

Costume Designer: Bill Thomas.

Makeup Artist: Pat McNally.
Hair Stylist:  La Rue Matherson.

Assistant Director: Tom Leetch.

Second Unit Director: Joseph L. McEveety.

Sound Artists: Robert O. Cook, Larry Jost.

Special Effects Artists: Eustace Lycett, Robert A. Mattey, Peter Ellenshaw, Jack Boyd.
Animal Supervisor: Stewart Raffill

Resources Used

The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin
Travels With Walt Disney by Jeff Kurti
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Lt.%20Robin%20Crusoe%20U.S.N.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060640/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt