Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)

1940 film by Edward Ludwig
Tim Holt was the first star assigned. Freddie Bartholomew and Terry Kilburn were borrowed from MGM. This was the first feature length film with a performance by Orson Welles, who went uncredited as the story's narrator. A version running 108 minutes (15 minutes longer than the generally available print) is also screened occasionally.

Johann David Wyss's 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson was adapted again for film in 1960 by Walt Disney. Associate producer Basil Keys stated in a December 1960 Saturday Evening Post article that Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson chose to make their version of the film after viewing the RKO version. According to a July 1959 Los Angeles Times article, director Ken Annakin used the RKO adaptation as "an example of what not to do", that is, avoiding the 1940 film's soundstage reproductions and focusing instead on location shooting and realistic art direction. Walt Disney is said to have bought the rights to the RKO film in an effort to suppress its re release and avoid comparisons to his 1960 version. Currently the Walt Disney Co. holds the rights to the RKO version, and 20 minutes of it was featured in the "Vault Disney" DVD release of their 1960 Swiss Family Robinson. Although the RKO version has not been released theatrically for decades, and no home formats from Disney were previously made commercially available, the film's 92 minute version was briefly made available on DVD in 2010 from Turner Classic Movies, on their own "Vault Collection" DVD label, a library of "rare and forgotten" films, produced "in only small quantities and available for a limited time." A limited on demand DVD release by Retro Flix has also been produced. On October 14, 2019, the Disney+ Twitter account included both the 1940 and 1960 versions of the film amongst a list of the content available on the streaming service at its launch.