THE ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*

The literary genre of the "lost race novel" probably peaked in the 1930s with LOST HORIZON and various Doc Savage novels. After the innovations of both jets and satellites, it became harder and harder to sell the idea of cultures being so isolated that the rest of the world knew nothing of them. However, in the 1960s, writer Ian Cameron took a shot at reviving the genre with three novels set in contemporaneous times. One of these books, THE LOST ONES, became the basis of Disney's ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD.

Disney's producers probably realized that the public tended to think of the genre as old-hat, so the script for ISLAND set the events in 1907, and had the explorers travel in an old-timey dirigible. (Following the late Walt Disney's imprimatur to monetize their productions, there were plans to place a version of the Dirigible at one of the theme parks, though the film's failure ensured that this did not take place until 1992, at Disneyland Paris.) The basic purpose of the expedition, though, remained the same: wealthy Anthony Ross (Donald Sindel) hires a crew to venture to a little-known volcanic area in Alaska, seeking Ross's son Donald, missing for two years. The film's explorers include the dirigible's captain, anthropologist Ivarsson ("name" actor David Hartman), and eventually, reluctant Inuit guide Oomak (Mako). 

I give away nothing by stating that despite perils of the air and the snowy Alaskan tundra, the explorers succeed in finding the lost Donald. They also find his hosts, a race of isolated descendants of Vikings, who tend to regard the newcomers as heralds of an invasion force. Ivarsson's fortunate ability to speak Old Norse smooths things over a bit, but an evil shaman wants everyone dead, and Donald doesn't immediately want to leave, being enamored of local lass Freyja (Agneta Eckmeyr). Eventually the outsiders must make a daring trek to return to the outside world via the dirigible. Eventually the Vikings allow the explorers to leave, but only if one of their number remains behind as hostage.

I don't remember when and where I first saw ISLAND, but I remembered little of it. The likely reason is that, despite the skill of director Robert Stevenson in depicting the wonders of the natural world (including a "whale's graveyard"), not much really happens in this "adventure tale." The protagonists never seem in serious danger, the Vikings aren't a bad lot, and the nasty shaman is barely seen. The elder Ross worries that he drove his son away by being a demanding father, but Donald lets him off the hook, saying that he bore his dad no animus, he just wanted adventure. In the book Freyja dies; here she lives and Ivarsson willingly stays behind as hostage, delighted to be immersed in the mysteries of a lost civilization.

On the whole, the film is very safe entertainment, much like a lot of other Disney movies of the decade, though ISLAND is far from the worst of the batch. Around the same time a British production company enjoyed middling success with three adaptations from novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, so the genre wasn't utterly foreign to 1970s filmgoers. ISLAND sunk like a stone, and its only significance might be as an attempt to bring back old-fashioned explorer-tales, though seven years later Lucas and Spielberg ate Disney's lunch with the introduction of the infinitely preferable exploits of Indiana Jones.