Treasure Island (1988 film)

Treasure Island (Остров Сокровищ) is a Soviet two-part live-action/animated adventure comedy television film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883). It was created by order of the USSR's state television company by the studio Kievnauchfilm. It is mostly traditional animation with some live action sequences, which are largely but not entirely separate.

The first part, Captain Flint's Map, aired in 1986; the second, Captain Flint's Treasure, aired in 1988. After that, they were always shown together. The film won the Grand Prize in Minsk, 1987, the Grand Prize in Kyiv, 1989, and the 1st Prize in International Cinema Festival of Television films in Czechoslovakia.

A recut American version called The Return to Treasure Island was released direct-to-video in 1992. The live action sections were removed, and it is 34 minutes shorter than the Soviet version. It features the voices of Jan Rabson and Steve Bulen.

Plot
Throughout the movie, character introductions are shown through cards, which among other traits label them as "not married" (a reference to Seventeen Moments of Spring). Live-action songs are also played after certain scenes to present morals about drugs and exercise to the audience.

Captain Flint's Map
In live-action, Captain Flint defends himself from pirates who seek his treasure map. The pirates kill him, and Billy Bones takes the map.

Bones arrives at the Admiral Benbow Inn on a stormy night and asks the innkeeper's son Jim Hawkins to let him know if he sees an old one-legged sailor, not knowing that a group of pirates is spying on them. The next day, they are visited by Bones' former shipmate Black Dog, who wants Bones to give him the map. Bones refuses, and they fight. After Black Dog flees, Bones suffers a stroke. Dr. Livesey arrives and examines him. Livesey warns Bones that if he keeps drinking rum, he will die. They are later visited by a blind pirate known as Blind Pew, who gives Bones a black spot. Bones panics and dies due to apoplexy. Jim takes the map.

Blind Pew leads the group of spying pirates on a raid of the inn. Jim flees, and as the pirates follow, Blind Pew trips into a barrel and rolls off of a cliff, falling to his death. Jim goes to Dr. Livesey's home, where he tells Livesey and Squire Trelawney what happened and presents them with the map. Trelawney decides to assemble a hunt for the treasure, and the three travel to Bristol. At the Spyglass Inn, Jim gets into a fight with a hostile pirate before they are interrupted by the inn's owner, Long John Silver, who offers to bring his ship, the Hispaniola, and his crew on their treasure hunt.

Following the lead of Captain Smollett, the crew heads for the island. Jim overhears Silver and his crew and finds out that he was Captain Flint's right-hand man and they plan to betray the rest of the crew for the treasure.

Captain Flint's Treasure
Jim sneaks back to Livesey and Trelawney to inform them of Silver's plan. Smollett proposes they play dumb for the time being, but one of the pirates spies on them and tells Silver that they know of the plan.

The next day, they see Treasure Island. Jim steals a rowboat and rows there himself, with Silver and some men chasing him. While hiding from them, he meets Ben Gunn, a former member of Flint's crew. Ben reveals that he and the rest of Flint's men were the ones who killed Flint after they betrayed him for the treasure. Three years later, Ben led the other men on a search for Flint's treasure, but they found nothing and the crew marooned him. He agrees to help Jim find the treasure.

On the ship, Livesey examines the island with a telescope and sees Jim, Silver's crew, and an abandoned fortress. Livesey, Trelawney, and Smollett steal a rowboat and go to the fortress. Silver is informed and demands they surrender, but they refuse. They have a shootout, and Jim and his allies win when Trelawney tricks the pirates into falling off of a cliff.

That night, Ben and Livesey find the treasure together. Jim sneaks onto Silver's ship and fights Israel Hands before going back to the fort, where he is captured. Silver tells Jim that Livesey gave him the map and left with Smollett and Trelawney. They find the spot on the map, but the treasure is not there. Livesey and Ben had already taken it and set up a trap. Livesey examines the pirates and gives them cigarettes, telling them that smoking is damaging their health, and they die. The rest of the crew sets sail back to England.

The film ends with some of the animated main characters alongside their voice actors in live-action. After the credits, the live-action pirate crew finds the hidden treasure and opens it, only to find a spring-loaded sign saying the end.

Voice cast

 * as Jim Hawkins
 * Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Long John Silver
 * as Captain Smollett and Billy Bones
 * as Dr. Livesey and "dossier" storyteller
 * as Squire Trelawney
 * Yury Yakovlev as Ben Gunn
 * as Black Dog
 * as Blind Pew
 * as Blind Pew's dog
 * as the "cowardish pirate"

Live-action cast

 * Instrumental ensemble VIA (ВИА) and the theater company "Grotesque":
 * as Leading Pirate/Captain Flint
 * Yuri Nevganonny as Captain Flint in Ben Gunn's story
 * Alexander Levit
 * Semyon Grigoriev
 * David Cherkassky
 * Vladimir Chiglyayev
 * Oleg Sheremenko
 * Semyon Grigoriev
 * David Cherkassky
 * Vladimir Chiglyayev
 * Oleg Sheremenko
 * Oleg Sheremenko

Background
Treasure Island was a collaboration between David Cherkassky, director, and Radna Sakhaltuev, cartoonist. Their previous collaborations included the films Adventures of Captain Wrongel and Doctor Aybolit.

The live action "musical pauses" were songs performed by live actors that explained, for example, why it is a bad idea to drink alcohol or smoke. These scenes were added to help meet the deadline for the cartoon and were filmed at night.

The film was released in two parts. The first, Captain Flint's Map, aired in 1986; the second, Captain Flint's Treasure, aired in 1988.

In 2012, Russia passed a law that prohibited showing films to minors that included smoking or alcohol consumption. The film has many scenes of rum drinking and smoking among pirates. A public outcry over the prohibition of films such as Treasure Island resulted in the adoption of an exception that allowed "movies that have significant historical and cultural value", including Treasure Island, to be exempt from the law.

Home video
On 16 March 2006, a Russian DVD by Krupny Plan (Region 0) that contains the original Russian edit of the film with restored images and a Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix (as well as with the original mono sound). This version contains no bonus material, no subtitles, and is Russian only.

An export version of the Russian edit of the film by RUSCICO (Region 0) is available under the title Treasure Island. This version contains Russian (5.1 and 1.0), English, and French (5.1 with one voice voiceover translation) soundtracks as well as several subtitle languages (English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish). The picture was not restored for this edition.

A United States direct-to-video cut from 1992 was published in the US under the title Return to Treasure Island on DVD (Region 1). It is 34 minutes shorter than the Soviet version. The picture was not restored. However, the English audio has been remastered in 5.1. The edit does not contain any Russian audio. The VHS edition was distributed by Video Treasures.

Legacy
Treasure Island won the Grand Prize in Minsk, 1987, the Grand Prize in Kyiv, 1989, and the 1st Prize on International Cinema Festival of Television films in Czechoslovakia.

In 2005, Ukrainian game development studio Action Forms made an official PC adventure game adaptation of Treasure Island. Director David Cherkassky, original voice cast members Yevhen Paperny and Viktor Andriyenko, and original animators from the film participated in the development of the game.

In August 2022, the character Dr. Livesey became the subject of an international internet meme, in which his confident gait whilst entering the tavern with Jim and Trelawney is set to the phonk track "Why Not" by Ghostface Playa.

DR LIVESEY ROM AND DEATH EDITION is a 2023 bullet hell shooter game created by Russian publisher Agafonoff Official Group that features characters and animations from the film.