Does John Silver escape with *all* the gold at the end of the 1950 version of Treasure Island?
The 1950 Walt Disney version of Treasure Island ends with John Silver in a small boat, escaping treasure island alone with a chest full of treasure. The Squire, Jim Hawkins, Dr. Livesy, and the other protagonists watch him escape with what seems to be a mixture of respect and amusement. It's all very odd. Are we to understand that they didn't care for the treasure very much, or that they had more elsewhere? (In the original book, Silver escapes with a small bag out of a large cache, but in the 1950 movie it does look as though he takes the whole thing.)
Best Answer
It's been a long time since I've seen the movie so there may be some inaccuracies about the way I remember things.
It did seem in the movie that Silver absconded with the entirety of the contents aboard the skiff. However, in the book (and the film as well it seems) Flint's treasure amounted to 700,000 pounds sterling. Using this inflation calculator that amount would have the equivalent buying power of a shade under 60 million pounds in today's money. That's a lot of dough, and almost certainly none of it was in banknotes or other forms of paper currency.
Using this calculator for gold prices I estimate the amount of gold that £700,000 could buy to be around 5 tons! In the books the repaired Hispanola carried the treasure back home so I doubt that tiny skiff would have carried the entire treasure cache, which makes it probable that a great deal of it was left in the island for pickup at a later date.
Then again, it's a Disney movie and they wanted to end in a somewhat uplifting note.
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What happens to Long John Silver at the end of Treasure Island?
So the book compromises by letting Long John Silver disappear: he slips away from the Hispaniola with a sack of coins when Squire Trelawney, Doctor Livesey, and Jim Hawkins are ashore at the end of the novel.What happens at the end of Treasure Island?
Jim and his friends get there first and demolish the boat. At this point Ben Gunn reveals that he had dug up the treasure several years ago and it is now in his cave. Jim takes everyone to the Hispaniola and they transport the treasure from Ben's cave to her hold.Is Long John Silver a good guy?
Long John Silver was hired by the Squire to be the cook on the Hispaniola. He turns out not to be a cook but an evil pirate who is also hunting for Captain Flint's treasure. Generally he is not to be trusted. He is a clever, sneaky and dastardly villain who is feared by all.Who buried the treasure in Treasure Island?
Terrified that he will be next, Jim runs into the woods. Here, he meets the wild-looking Ben Gunn, another of Flint's old crew. Gunn reveals that Flint had buried the treasure on the island with the help of six men, whom he had then killed.Treasure Island (1990)- Jim meets Long John Silver
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