REAL " ROBINSON CRUSOE " PICTURE

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1919, Page 4

REAL " ROBINSON CRUSOE " PICTURE

“Robinson Crusoe” is to be made into a film by a British company which is leaving shortly for a Robinson Crusoe island. “We thought originally of trying to reconstruct the story on the island of Juan Fernandez, which Daniel Defoe had in mind when he wrote the book,” said Mr Sydney Northcote, who is playing the part of Crusoe, recently. “But it is a very barren spot, and the tropical island we are going to, is much more like that of Defoe’s imagination.

“Of course, it i s a ‘one-man film,’ and we are closely following the book. The love-interest —which is supposed to be essential to a well-ordered filmwill be confined to tbe epilogue; tbe fijhn will bo mainly taken up with showing how Crusoe evolved comfort out of his primitive surroundings. Everyone has road the book in childhood and ha® seen a pantomime version. We want to get away from the ‘principal boy’ atmosphere which lurks around it and recapture the thrill of the book, so as to make people say that they never realised the romance of the story. For instance, one of the great moments of the film will be the discovery of the “footprint in the sand,” which is, after all, one of tbe most dramatic situations in English literature.

“the company consists of twelve people, including for Man Friday, a Negro who has had stage experience in London. One of the most important members is the carpenter, for the scenic effects will have to bo manufactured on the spot. We have secured some flint-lock guns which will fire, and we are also taking two skeletoaw for the aftermath of the famous cannibal feast. We expect to be at work on our island for quite two months.

“I shall follow the prints in. old editions of the book for my ‘make-up’, and many of tlie scenes will, as far as possible reproduce some of the drawings.”