In 1858 Glasgow, Teenager Mary Grant (Hayley Mills) and her younger brother Robert Grant (Keith Hamshere) are determined to find their long-missing father Captain Grant (Jack Gwillim), especially when they discover a message in a bottle with a map. Unfortunately it is a fragment with only the latitude (37th parallel) but no longitude. Mary Grant sings, "Cast away, cast away: trust in your star. You know I will find you wherever you are. Though all your dreams may be tossed by the tide, cling to your hopes: never cast them aside. Cast away, cast away, though you may be lost in the wilderness, over the sea: I will discover your cast away shore, and you'll be cast away no more."
With the help of Parisian geography professor Jacques Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) they persuade Lord Glenarvan (Wilfrid Hyde-Whyte) to take a sea voyage expedition around the world. Lord Grenarvan owns the ship The Britannia that was lost along with its Captain Grant. When Lord Glenarvan asks why a shark would swallow a bottle, Paganel replies, "What was in his mind, I don't know. I only know what was in his stomach." They set off for South America aboard Perseverance II, where Paganel has deduced Grant must be. In the Andes mountains they experience an earthquake ("dragopeeri") and a wondrous sleigh ride through caverns of ice. They are helped by Thalcave (Antonio Cifariello), an Araucan Indian chief who speaks English. He saves Robert who is carried off by a giant condor. Then they discover that Captain Grant is actually elsewhere, not Patagonia (Argentina).
The party sail on to Melbourne where they are aided by Thomas Ayrton (George Sanders), an untrustworthy member of the Britannia's crew who set Captain Grant adrift. They are helped by loony Bill Gaye (Wilfrid Brambell), who sent the bottled message. In New Zealand they cope with Ayrton's treachery, Maori tribes, and exploding volcanoes. When the volcano erupts, Chevalier shouts, "Have no fear, mademoiselle, the Maoris can run faster than the lava. Enjoy!"
In the end they fight cynical gunrunner Thomas Ayerton. The Grants are reuntited with their father and Mary finds a boy friend, John Glenarvan (Michael Anderson Jr.) This movie is a roller-coaster ride adventure involving fire, flood, earthquakes, avalanches, a huge waterspout, cannibals, wild animals, mutiny, and other disasters. You never know what is coming next. They live in a huge ombu tree for weeks with a dangerous cat. Chevalier is charming and eternally optimistic in the worst circumstances, usually singing a cheerful song during a catastrophe. Lord Glenarvan is a stuffy upper-class twit. Hayley Mills is very good as usual.
The film is based on "Les Enfants du Captaine Grant" (The Children of Captain Grant), Jules Verne's fifth novel published in 1867. Verne took his stories seriously, but most movie adaptations do not--they add songs, dances, comedy, and change the plots. This mind-boggling adventure film is a Disney production with beautiful scenery and a strong cast. As a Victorian fantasy it starts off realistically, but soon becomes wonderfully imaginative and ends in a "Treasure Island" way. It is exciting with humour and amazing fantasy images, but lacks credibility and coherence. The premise is preposterous, but suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride. Superb visual effects are primarily matte work from Peter Ellenshaw and also models, impressive in their day, but some viewers think the entire film is outdated. The soundtrack is mono.
Also in the cast are: Inia Te Wiata (Inia Wiata), Ronald Fraser, Norman Bird, George Murcell, Mark Digham, Michael Wynne, David Spenser, Milo Sperber, Roger Delgado, Barry Keegan, Maxwell Shaw, Andreas Malandrinos, and Joss Ackland. William Alwyn wrote the music, Lowell S. Hawley wrote the screenplay, and Robert Stevenson directed.
Songs by the Sherman Brothers are: "Castaway Theme", "Grimpons", "Enjoy it!", "Let's Climb", and "Merci Beaucoups".
"The Children of Captain Grant" was filmed in 1913 (France), 1936 (Russia), and a 7 1/2 hour 7 episode mini-series was produced in Russia in 1985. "V poiskah kapitan Granta" was directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. It has been dubbed into other languages, but not English.
