This is a lovely touching film of how friendship arises out of necessity.
Shipwrecked by himself, a young boy find the only other inhabitant of the island is a local boy his own age. The two become friends, with the native boy teaching the American how to swim and fish, who in turn teaches the other English and what life is like in his home country.
Much of the film is taken up with daily life; the boys talk, fish, eat, swim, with some moments of adventure and suspense to keep us awake. In addition, there are some excellent shots of the island's wildlife.
What is wrong with the film? There's a lot that has been missed out, and the passage of time is somewhat awry. For example, the boy learns to swim in about five minutes. Or rather, in the next scene we find that he can. This jumping is a bit off-putting and spoils the narrative. Someone said that the film was originally half an hour longer; this might explain the missing portions, and I'd like to see the full version.
The ending was a bit up-in-the-air; having got there, we really, really, need to know what happened next! There is so much more to the story - there must be - that we don't know, and I'm afraid that for me it was a bit of a let-down, almost as though the writer lost interest at that point. I still cried at the end, though. (I'm a soppy old thing really).
A great work of art, it's not. A great way for you and your kids to spend an hour on Saturday morning, it is. There's not a trace of sex, violence, bad language, commercialism, junk food or indeed anything else nasty. It's a pity this film has disappeared into obscurity when much less wholesome material stays on.
