Robinson Crusoe

As might be expected, Defoe's classic castaway adventure has been adapted into many films, cartoons and television shows. But probably not as many as you might expect. Perhaps the unsettling subtext of race, empire and the white man's burden has discouraged more. It's certainly been something that adapters have had to deal with—in often quite different ways.

A passable adventure
Louis Buñuel is not the director one would expect to be drawn to this project, let alone to produce one of the most effective translations of the book. Considered a radical for his early, shockingly surrealistic films and for his later sophisticated comedies of social criticism, Buñuel was in his middle period of directing small-budget flicks on innocuous topics when Robinson Crusoe (1954) came along.

First, he strips the novel down to the island story. The picture opens with Crusoe's voice-over about being on a trip to get slaves as we see him being washed ashore. It closes with him and Friday preparing to leave the island after rescue. In-between, the survival story is reduced to its basic elements. We experience the growth of Crusoe's encampment, his attempts to grow his own food, and his relationship with animals (both pets and food sources) without suffering through all the details.

Irish thespian Dan O'Herlihy, considered an actor's actor more than a popular star, is perfectly cast as Crusoe for this. He's able to portray castaway's many moods and inner conflicts with minimal histrionics, and ages believably from the young adventurer to the experienced ruler of his wild domain. Especially in the scenes with Friday (Mexican actor Jaime Fernanzez, who would go on to have a long career in Spanish-language films and television), O'Herlihy is able to credibly portray the man with all the authoritarian traits of his time, as well as the humane impulses we need to be able to identify with him.

Buñuel's film ends up being uplifiting even, odd for him.  In only three scenes are we treated to the director's own bleaker view of life. Once when Crusoe is ill and hallucinates his father (also played by O'Herlihy) scolding him for going against his wishes, once when he erects a scarecrow and we see him wistfully enchanted by the female form the garments take, and once when he calls out for divine help and hears back only his own echo.

But these moments are fleeting, as is the whole film. Which is a good thing. Twenty-eight years pass in ninety minutes. An improvement on the book.

A ridiculous adventure
Just the title, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and you know this has got to be somewhat of a joke. And this 1964 movie is indeed laughable. But not all bad.

Okay, it's 1964, pre-Star Trek, 2001, and Star Wars—near the end of the era of Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Blob and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. So you can guess it's going to be corny, incredible and have really lame special effects. All that's true of Robinson Crusoe on Mars but, goshdarnit, this movie does try very hard to be a cut above all that and largely succeeds in presenting a futuristic version of the classic tale.

Actually I'm not sure it's based on the Defoe novel, rather than on earlier Robinson Crusoe movies. Despite this movie's title, the castaway isn't named Crusoe but rather Kit Draper, who is stranded on the red planet's surface with a pet monkey (instead of 1954's dog). Draper finds ways of breathing Martian atmosphere and harvesting vegetation but fights against loneliness; when he's sick he guiltily fantasizes an appearance by his former astronaut colleague (Adam West, soon to become TV's Batman) who had died during the crash. There's even a version of the echo scene, though it's not a knock against religious hope this time.

When extraterrestrials land on Mars to mine ore, Draper manages to save one of their dark-skinned slaves, whom he names Friday while insisting the liberated slave recognize that Draper's now his "boss". The rest of film involves the two of them and the monkey trying to escape from the alien overlords by climbing through underground caverns in search of Mars's canals, while the alien vessels bombard the planet's surface from space.

Actually, although the space shots—the alien as well as the American flights—look like bad cartoons, the Mars sets are rather well done stylistically for 1964, advanced for their time. And actor Paul Mantee, who's onscreen for almost every scene, breathes life into the Crusoe/Draper character.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars may not give you any more insights into the classic novel or the cultural icon that the story has become but, surrisingly, it doesn't do them any great disservice either.