. . . and so is LONG JOHN SILVER--sort of. It's as if the cast of this flick were asked to play their parts as over-sized Muppets (if they had such a thing in the 1900s). The uneven tone of this picture implies that the cast only remembered such a stage direction half of the time. So if ridiculous plot twists mixed together with plenty of mugging for the camera is your cup of grog, then this 1954 offering may be your SILVER lining. While it's tempting to remember Robert Louis Stevenson's Jim Hawkins as a plucky teen, the white-washed character by that name in this movie version of his story is more of a sanctimonious Tom Sawyer than a rebel-with-a-cause Huck Finn. It's really difficult to understand what Long John Silver sees in this wishy-washy Pre-teen milquetoast. Jim Hawkins should be the sort of kid who'd be sneaking his girl out her window in a couple of years--NOT a Brown-Noser type who'll ring her front doorbell and discuss Donald Trump with her dad for ten minutes.
