Beautifully Made. Beautifully Shot. Beautiful Music., 15 Dec 2000

This cosmopolitan production was made in 1964. Shot in B&W in the Canary Islands and orginally in French starring handsome Austrian actor Robert Hoffman as Robinson. The series was ultimately dubbed into English, with the narrative spoken by a North American, as the voice of Robinson. 'The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe' was purchased by the Beeb and received its first screening in around 1965. Every year onwards until the mid-Seventies, the series was part of a staple TV diet for millions of British schoolkids, throughout the summer holidays. It was still shown sporadically at odd times of the day by the BBC up to about 1982, when they finally dumped it, literally I'm afraid!

The haunting musical score by Robert Mellin and Gian-Pero Reverberi is one of the best I have ever heard. Particularly, bearing in mind the production was not high budget. Many modern performers including The Art of Noise, have re-created the main theme in their own styles. The original music may still be available to buy in its own right, (check Amazon). If you can find it I recommend it strongly.

As for seeing series again on video, it brings back many happy memories of my childhood. The series actually stands the test of time pretty well, of course, helped by the music! OK, the lip movements of the actors don't exactly fit the new English/American voices, but what the hell, this was 1964, no multi-millions of budget here. So ignore those little faults, and lose yourself in nostalgia, and a genuinely excellent dramatization of Defoe's great story of beating adversity.

By the way, the end of the final episode makes me cry. I bet you will too!!

I strongly recommend 'The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe' on video. Buy the whole set. You won't regret it.

 Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)