Jackie Cooper delivers a captivating performance as the young “Jim Hawkins,” complemented by Wallace Beery’s compelling portrayal of the deceptive "Long John Silver," in Victor Fleming’s lively adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s nautical tale. It is “Jim” who unexpectedly becomes involved in a pirate scheme at his mother's inn when “Billy Bones” (Lionel Barrymore) bequeaths him a chart leading to a substantial tr…

I was fortunate in high school; my English teachers chose well. While some of my classmates were reading books like “The Great Gatsby,” “The Pigman,” and “Hamlet,” I was studying "Frankenstein," "In Cold Blood," and "Macbeth." Another classic I avoided then, "Treasure Island," I now understand might have been better left unexamined after seeing the 1934 film. Jim Hawkins (Jackie Cooper) and his mother (Dorothy Pet…