In Search of the Castaways

In Search of the Castaways is a 1962 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier in a tale about a worldwide search for a shipwrecked sea captain. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Lowell S. Hawley based upon Jules Verne's 1868 adventure novel Captain Grant's Children. The film was Mills' third of six for the Disney Studios.

Plot

In company with her younger brother Robert and her elderly yet young-at-heart friend Professor Jacques Paganel (Maurice Chevalier), teenage Mary Grant (Hayley Mills) journeys to Glasgow to persuade the comically brave Lord Glenarvan (Wilfred Hyde-White) to rescue her shipwrecked father, Captain John Grant. The expedition sets sail and ventures halfway around the world, to both South America and New Zealand, respectively. The party suffers many assorted perils including an earthquake, a flood, a fire, an attack by a giant condor and an erupting volcano before finding and rescuing Captain Grant. A subplot involves a gunrunner named Thomas Ayerton (George Sanders) who is a treacherous former crew-member of Captain Grant's ship, and responsible for his disappearance. Another subplot involves a budding romance between young Mary Grant and Lord Glenarvan's handsome and loyal son John.

Cast and characters

• Hayley Mills as Mary Grant

• Maurice Chevalier as Jacques Paganel

• George Sanders as Thomas Ayerton

• Wilfrid Hyde-White as Lord Glenarvan

• Michael Anderson, Jr. as John Glenarvan

• Antonio Cifariello as Thalcave, the Indian Chief

• Keith Hamshere as Robert Grant

• Wilfrid Brambell as Bill Gaye

• Jack Gwillim as Captain Grant

• Inia Te Wiata as Maori Chief

Musical numbers

Songs composed by the Sherman Brothers include "Castaway", "Merci Beaucoup", "Let's Climb (Grimpons)", and "Enjoy It", with an orchestral arrangement of "Castaway" serving as the film's overture.

Awards and nominations

The film placed third in the 1963 Golden Laurel Top Male Musical Performance (Chevalier) and was nominated for the Golden Laurel Top Action Drama.