Steve Drexel is sailing to Sumatra with his friends & dog Rooney when their yacht reaches a deserted island. Making a bet that he couldn't survive on the island, Drexel & his dog jump ship. Spending a month on the island they prove to be formidable survivalists. When a native girl who doesn't want to get married arrives on the island, Drexel finds himself drawn to her. But her jilted groom & an army of natives descend on the island.
An amusing skit satirising the Defoe classic, Mr. Robinson Crusoe manages to turn a classic piece of survivalist literature into a cheap comedy flick. Unless you're a trained engineer with experience in building a settlement with native materials, there is no way you could possibly make the mini city that Douglas Fairbanks does here. That is not to say that Mr. Robinson Crusoe is not a watchable film – it does have its moments. The film has its amusements but ultimately is just a lightweight comedy of which the 1930s saw a whole flood of. I was kind of surprised to see incidental nudity in the film – Maria Alba's naked body is seen reflected off the river she is bathing in – which is very unusual for the early 1930s.
