Previous experience with this film: I went into this one blind. I like some of the old classic Disney films and had a crush on Hayley Mills when I was a kid, so my expectations were a bit higher than they should have been.General Notes: In Search of the Castaways is not a great film. It is not a particularly good film, but if you are looking for basic, safe, family fare, this is your film. Mary Grant (Hayley Mills) and her younger brother Robert (Keith Hamshere) are two siblings in search of their missing sea captain father. With the help of French professor Jacques Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) and a stained note from in a bottle found inside the stomach of a shark; they scam their way onto the ship "Persevero" during a bon voyage party. That is when things start to get a bit unbelievable. Throughout the movie, the explorers endure many trials including an earthquake, an encounter with a giant condor, a flashflood and a tribe of cannibals. The storyline is over the top and the special effects are quite dated. The movie is based on a book by Jules Verne, Les Enfants du capitaine Grant or The Children of Captain Grant, published in 1873. Verne uses the travels of the expedition to describe plants, animals and geography of exotic places to his intended 19th century audience. Unfortunately, it does not translate very well to film.Positives: About the only bright spot in this movie is Maurice Chevalier's portrayal of Professor Paganel. He is a very likable character and when he breaks out into song, (did I forget to mention that this movie has a couple of musical numbers), it doesn't appear forced; it seems as if it is something that his character would naturally do.Negatives: This is a typical 1960s Disney family film so I am not going to hammer on it too hard. Yes, the plot is overdone. Yes, the special effects are laughable. My biggest gripe with the movie is that Hayley Mills is not given a lot to work with. She almost disappears in this film and that is a shame. One of the original taglines for this movie was "A Thousand Thrills and Hayley Mills". It really did not deliver.Overall: This is a 1962 Disney family film. It is exactly what you would expect. There are no surprises in this one. I would recommend this movie to someone nostalgic for Disney. Maybe to seven to nine-year old's that might like some of the fantastic adventure elements of the film. I give it a tepid score of 5.

In Search of The Castaway's is probably my favorite adventure film. It contains a lot of very unique items and fun. Some of the movie is not very realistic, ex. a huge wave of water suddenly floods a desert, making it into a big lake. Some things in it don't even exist in real life, ex. a giant flying bird, so big that it can carry a person. But elements like these really do add to it and help make it more exciting. Many of the special effects in the movie are in my opinion, very impressive for their time, even though they sometimes seem a little inaccurate. Another thing I like about the movie is that it gives a great sense of teamwork and fearlessness, people going out of their way and doing whatever it takes to try to save others. And though there are some disagreements and rudeness between the main characters, but unlike some adventure films like Swiss Family Robinson, there really aren't any major conflicts between them, which makes it a lot more pleasant.

Based upon Jule's Vernes 'Captain Grant's Children', In Search of Those Castaways (1962) is an incoherent yarn about Mary Grant (Haley Mills), the determined daughter of a missing sea captain (Jack Gwillim) who sets about traveling to exotic ports and hidden mysterious locales in search of dear IL' daddy. On this trip she takes family friend and confident, Jacque Paganell (the marvelous Maurice Chevalier) and meets up with the unscrupulous and hardened, Thomas Ayerton (George Sanders). The cast also includes Wilfred Hyde-White as the stuffy Lord Glenaravan and Michael Anderson Jr. as his son John. But Robert Stevenson's direction on this occasion seems to fall apart on a series of vignettes that have no coherent or driving narrative. Verne's works usually present this sort of problem for screenwriters, in that Verne himself often wrote episodic stories that later became loosely strung together as fantasy novels of their day; visionary – then; stagnant and wholly unappealing by 1960s standards; completely out of touch by today's expectations. Peter Ellenshaw's matte paintings extend the world of fantasy that Mary and company traverse to good effect. There's some great trick photography taking place during the flood sequence. There's also Chevalier warbling a very family friendly little ditty, 'Enjoy it.' In the end, it seems hard to take up Chevalier on that musical request. The end of the story is a forgone conclusion by reel two. We know Mary's going to find her father; it's a Disney film. There seems to be some discrepancy as to the proper aspect ratio for this film; 1:33:1 or 1:75:1. The theatrical prints appear to have been printed in the latter format since title credit sequences on this DVD occasionally run off the top and bottom of the screen. However, an usual practice occurred in the late 1960s and early 70s in American cinema, whereby certain films were shot in full frame for the sake of economy and then artificially cropped to 1:75:1 for theatrical presentation. Having explained this; the print for In Search of Those Castaways might very well have been one such film, with title sequences specifically formatted for the 1:75:1 theatrical engagement. Hence, when Disney remastered the DVD they forgot to format the titles for 1:33:1 to avoid confusion. At the very least, these credits have not been framed properly. At worst, Disney has given us another full frame only version of a widescreen movie. Yet, for the rest of the presentation, everything looks pretty much as it should. There is no apparent cropping to speak of and scenes appear quite natural in 1:33:1. As for the rest of the image quality: colors are quite solid, pure and rich. Blacks are deep. Whites are generally clean. Film grain is present during the matte shots but absent elsewhere for a picture that will surely not disappoint. The audio is engaging, if dated.

How wonderful to see a movie the entire family can watch. Fine acting and plenty of music and laughter along with suspense, drama and human kindness. Not to be scared if a child will curse or anything to upset the audience. Maurice Chaviar and entire cast is superb. What a wonderful movie to just sit and relax and know you will be entertained. I never get bored watching this movie. When I was stationed in the US Army at Russelsheim, Germany,I got to see this movie in the German language. Again, it is a pleasure to have another entertaining motion picture to view over and over with family and friends. Thank You Walt Disney and his staff.