CharactersThe Father:He is the narrator of the story and leads the family.He knows a great deal of information on everything from roots to hunting,demonstrating bravery and self-reliance.Elizabeth:The mother.She is intelligent and resourceful,arming herself even before leaving the ship with a "magic bag" filled with supplies,including sewing materials and seeds for food crops.She is also a remarkably versatile cook,taking on anything from porcupine soup to roast penguin.Fritz:The oldest of the four boys.Though he is not the most intelligent,he is the strongest and accompanies his father on many quests.Ernest:The second oldest of the boys,he is twelve.Ernest is intelligent,but a less physically active boy,often described by his father as "indolent".Like Fritz,however,he comes to be an excellent shot.Jack:The third oldest of the boys,ten years old.He is thoughtless,bold,vivacious,and the quickest of the group.Franz(sometimes rendered as Francis):The youngest of the boys,he is nearly
Plot
A family on their way toNew Guineais chased by pirates into a storm.The captain and crew abandon the ship leaving the family shipwrecked off an uninhabited island.Father (John Mills) and his two eldest sons Fritz and Ernst (James MacArthurandTommy Kirk) salvage as much as they can from the wreck including livestock,tools,and even an organ.As they gather what can be removed from the ship,the pirates return and begin shooting at the ship.Fritz and Ernst begin readying the ship's cannon,but they only have one shot.Suddenly,the pirates turn around; Father hasput up a flagindicating the ship is underquarantineand that there isBlack Deathaboard.The three men construct atree househome on the island while the youngest boy Francis (Kevin Corcoran) investigates the wildlife (and starts an impressive collection of animals) and Mother (Dorothy McGuire) prays to be rescued.The boys,particularly Ernst,also build inventions to provide modern amenities to the family such as drawing water and preserving food.
Fritz and Ernst head off to explore the island and try to see if anyone else lives on it or if it is connected to any other lands.While at a distant corner of the island,they again spot the pirates who originally drove them into the storm.The pirates have captured another ship and have the ship's captain and cabin boy "Bertie" captives for ransom.Fritz and Ernst rescue Bertie but the captain,Bertie's grandfather,stays behind.The three dodge the pirates and head back to the family's tree house.En route,they discover that Bertie is really Roberta (Janet Munro) and not a boy at all.The three fend off snakes and hyenas as they head home.They arrive back at the tree house at Christmas.
Father realizes the pirates will try to reclaim her and decides to make a stand against them.Defenses are prepared by building booby-traps and fortifying a rocky outcropping.They blow up the ship's wreckage in an attempt to make it difficult for the pirates to remember where the family went aground.While prepping for the pirate attack,Fritz and Ernst vie for the affections of Roberta.Ernst is more studious and attempts to sway her with his knowledge and intelligence while Fritz,older and not studious,uses his charm and physical attributes to attract her.Fritz and Ernst eventually come to blows over her and are only stopped by the intervention of Father.He declares the next day the first holiday for "New Switzerland" in an attempt to divert everyone.While prepping for the race (everyone has an animal to ride:Francis has the elephant,Ernst the ostrich,Roberta the zebra,the monkey on Duke,etc.),Mother fires the gun to signal the start of the race; the pirates,who are at that time sailing the coast looking for the place they last saw the ship that brought the family to the island,hear the gun and know the family is near.
Led by their captain (Sessue Hayakawa),the pirates storm the island.The family manages a brave defense but are sorely pressed.Their defenses include pits with atigerin one pit,rock piles,a log pile and coconut bombs (hollowed out coconuts filled with gunpowder with a fuse),all of which cause problems for the attacking pirates.When the pirate leader waves awhite flagthe family imagines they have routed the pirates,but the pirates instead are sneaking around the back of the fort.Francis' much-maligned "pirate alarm" is the only thing that warns them of the surprise attack.They begin defending the fortress but are soon down to only a few shots with their muskets.At this critical moment,a ship appears on the horizon captained by Roberta's grandfather (Cecil Parker) and fires its cannons at the pirates and their ship.The pirates retreat and make a desperate escape,and the family rejoices.Father,Mother and Francis choose to remain on the island while the Captain notes that Father will likely be recommended as Governor of the new colony.As for the rest of the family,Ernst chooses to return to Europe with the rescuers in order to enroll in auniversityto continue his studies while Fritz and Roberta plan to marry and make New Switzerland their home.