AllMovie

Treasure Island was the third of Fox's "Sunshine Kiddies" series, a group of literary adaptations starring child actors in adult roles. Little Francis Carpenter was cast as Robert Louis Stevenson's youthful hero Jim Hawkins, who after coming into possession of a valuable map embarks upon a treacherous treasure hunt. It was typical of the Sunshine Kiddies series that Stevenson's lovable villain, ship's cook-cum-pirate Long John Silver, was played by a girl, Violet Radcliffe. Another female child performer, Virginia Lee Corbin, is seen as Jim Hawkins' sweetheart, a character which doesn't appear in the original novel. No mere pastiche, Treasure Island was lavishly produced and meticulously directed, and the juvenile cast took its responsibilities very seriously.