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Treasure Island (Russian: Остров Сокровищ, romanized: Ostrov Sokrovishch) is a Soviet Ukraine two-part live-action/animated adventure comedy television film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883). It was created by the studio Kievnauchfilm in between 1986 and 1988. It is mostly traditional animation with some live action sequences, which are largely but not entirely separate.
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| Treasure Island | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Russian: Ostrov sokrovishch | |
| Based on | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Written by | Yuri Alikov David Cherkassky |
| Directed by | David Cherkassky |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Volodymyr Bystryakov |
| Country of origin | Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Original language | Russian |
| Production | |
| Animator | Radna Sakhaltuev |
| Running time |
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| Production company | Kievnauchfilm |
| Original release | |
| Release | 15 September 1986 – 24 October 1988[1] |
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 between 1989 and 1992. The live action sections were removed, and it is 34 minutes shorter than the Soviet version.[1] It features the voices of Jan Rabson and Steve Bulen.
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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. Billy Bones, uninvolved with the fight, kills Flint and takes the map.
Later, Bones heads for a stay in the Admiral Benbow Inn on a stormy night. He 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 Black Dog fights Bones, who drives him away. Then, Bones asks for more rum for he will be leaving the inn soon, but then fails when his sneeze causes a wood plank fall on his head and collapse down the stairs. Dr. Livesey has been called to help and prescribe the injured Bones, dismissing the fact that he just got hit in the head and fell down the stairs, telling that Bones just had a stroke from drinking too much alcohol. Afterwards, Bones tells Jim that he must leave soon for there are pirates that are after his chest, and reminds Jim that if they show up, he should head to Squire Trelawney's Estate to meet with Dr. Livesey. Bones then sneezes so hard, he blew his bed through the wall and crashes, further injuring him. Sometime later, they are later visited by a blind pirate known as Blind Pew, who gives Bones a black spot. Bones panics, telling Jim that they will come for his chest at 10pm, warning him to not let his chest get taken away, and then sneezes and suddenly dies from apoplexy due to really having drank too much rum now. A live action music video plays, which is a re-write of the original "Dead Man's Chest" song from the original novel, warning the dangers of alcoholism. After the song, Jim takes Bones's Black Spot and his key to his chest, taking the map for himself and heads for Dr. Livesey, but then soon encounters a gang of pirates led by Blind Pew, who are now raiding the inn for Bones's chest, which unfortunately for them, is opened. They notice Jim fleeing with a horse, and as they try shooting him, the bullets can't reach him. Suspecting that Jim has galloped off for help, the pirates decide to escape, taking the gold coins from Bones's chest with them. Pew tries to persuade the pirates to continue searching for the map, but falls down a barrel and goes careening off a cliff into the sea, and then the pirate gang comes to mourn his death. Meanwhile, Bones's cat, finishes a bottle of rum and also dies, sharing the fate of his master.
Jim arrives at Squire Trelawney's Estate and meets with Dr. Livesey, where he discusses Livesey and Squire Trelawney what happened and presents them the map. Trelawney decides to assemble a hunt for the treasure, and the three travel to Bristol.
Now at daytime, the trio arrives at the Spyglass Inn looking to meet with the inn's owner, Long John Silver. Jim makes an encounter with a hostile pirate, but is stopped when the scene is abruptly paused to show a music video about the benefit of sports, telling that Jim does exercises every morning, and then the scene resumes to Jim being shown overpowering the pirate, and scaring off the other fierce pirates in the vicinity. Later, Trelawney calls on John Silver, who offers to bring his ship, the "Hispaniola", and his crewmates, and thanks to his agreement, they now prepare to go to the Treasure Island itself.
Following the lead of Smollett, the ship's captain, the crew sets up for the sailing to the island, while Smollett warns Trelawney about the potential mutiny of John Silver's crewmates. Meanwhile, At night, Jim overhears Silver and his crew and finds out that he was Captain Flint's right-hand man, and explains that they plan to betray the rest of the crew and take the treasure for themselves.
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 is unaware that 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 leads the other men on a search for Flint's treasure, but tricks them into finding nothing ends up being marooned. 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 fails when they refuse. They have a shootout, and as Jim and his allies win, 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 find that 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 WHEN they realize, 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.
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Voice cast
- Valeriy Bessarab as Jim Hawkins
- Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Long John Silver
- Viktor Andriyenko as Captain Smollett and Billy Bones
- Evgeniy Papernyy as Dr. Livesey and "dossier" storyteller
- Borys Voznyuk as Squire Trelawney
- Yury Yakovlev as Ben Gunn
- Grigory Tolchinsky as Black Dog
- Georgy Kyshko as Blind Pew
- Volodymyr Bystryakov as Blind Pew's dog
- Volodymyr Zadniprovskyy as the "cowardish pirate"
Live-action cast
- Instrumental ensemble VIA (ВИА) and the theater company "Grotesque":
- Valeriy Chyhlyayev as Leading Pirate/Captain Flint
- Yuri Nevganonny as Captain Flint in Ben Gunn's story
- Viktor Andriyenko
- Anatoly Dyachenko
- Vyacheslav Dubinin
- Mikhail Tserishenko
- Alexander Levit
- Vitali Vasilkov
- Semyon Grigoriev
- David Cherkassky
- Vladimir Chiglyayev
- Oleg Sheremenko
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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.[2]
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.
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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.
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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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]
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