Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44366 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Album Description
At last...the best of Sunday night TV is back! It's the legendary TV show popular with audiences for 29 years. The longest-running prime-time series in television history (1954-1983). The winner of numerous awards, including seven Emmys. It's THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY! In post-Civil War Kentucky, young David Burnie (Johnny Doran) becomes the unexpected heir to the family secret: a map leading to buried treasure on the Florida isle of Matecumbe. The youth, joined by four fellow adventurers (Robert Foxworth, Joan Hackett, Peter Ustinov, Billy Attmore), begins his search for the treasure despite deadly interference by his late father's archenemy (Vic Morrow). The angry threat of a hurricane and the presence of hostile Indians set the mood for the frantic trek to the swampy site -- a destination that could provide untold wealth for the searchers ... or for their evil pursuers!

Customer Reviews

Good Offering
This is a great example of The Wonderful World of Disney. Peter Ustinov in a Disney Movie is always a great thing and I love him in both this and Candleshoe.
The story follows the journey of a young boy who inherits a map and decides to follow it. He and his friend travel through the south just after the Civil War, braving the rapids, wild, and despicable bad guys (who killed his father) to find his inheritance. Will it be everything he (and those in his company) hope for?
A good and safe movie for families of all ages.. A credit to the memory of W. E. Disney..

Cross-burning, lynching and squaws! Where's Leonard Maltin? ;)
If you're looking to relive fond memories of sitting in front of the TV Sunday afternoons watching The Wonderful World of Disney, this will fit the bill nicely.

Treasure of Matecumbe has everything you'd expect from the generally mediocre live-action output Disney was known for in the 1970s: Bad rear-projection shots when people are outdoors? Check. Grainy, mismatched inserts of wildlife borrowed from True-Life Adventures episodes shot 25 years earlier? Check. Half-hearted attempt at a contemporary-sounding theme song (wholly inappropriate for the post-Civil War setting of this film)? Check.

Sort of a hybrid of Huckleberry Finn and the Apple-Dumpling Gang, Treasure of Matecumbe (presented full-screen pan-and-scan, subtitled, no extras) follows the river-borne trek of two boys in pursuit of buried treasure. Along the way they pick up a southern belle and a crooked medicine man, face thuggish river folk, alligators, mosquitoes, a hurricane, masked Indian tribesman, and... the KKK?

Yes--in what must be a Disney first, we actually see a white-hooded mob set a cross on fire at would-be lynching (here, to punish a white Yankee "traitor"). The lynching is disrupted when the boys attack with MOLOTOV COCKTAILS!

In a later scene, male prisoners of the Matecumbe tribesman are referred to repeatedly as "squaws" (which, per the film, apparently translates to "slaves").

While I admit I was initially somewhat shocked by these scenes only because they were so unexpected, this feeling was quickly supplanted by immense gratitude that I was not forced to endure a 10 minute lecture from Leonard Maltin explaining the historical context or apologizing for this now politically incorrect content.

Does this mark the end of Disney's kowtowing to the easily offended? Will Disney begin releasing vintage content without apology and without censorship? Let's hope!

A Disney adventure with a Mark Twain feeling!
In the post-Civil War South, a young boy named Davie and his best-friend Thad find themselves on a big river adventure heading towards Florida with treasure map in hand. Along the way, they team up with a sly, adventurous southern lady, a kind-hearted snake-oil salesman, and Davie's own heroic uncle Jim, but they also must steer clear of pursuing river pirates, a tribe of dangerous Indians, gators, a hurricane, and even the Ku Klux Klan!

"Treasure of Matecumbe" is the perfect Disney adventure for the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn fan who is looking for something new. Unquestionably a product of '70's Disney with a then-modern, folk-style opening theme song, '70's Disney production qualities and styles, and favorite actors of the time (Peter Ustinov is enjoyable as ever as medicine-show man Doctor Snodgrass), "Treasure of Matecumbe" has its flaws, but it holds up well as a fun, family adventure viewers of any age will enjoy. While it isn't the most realistic film at times, it has a lot of clever moments and plenty of Disney charm, and it comes off as one of the finer of Disney's lesser-known 1970's offerings.

The DVD is now available in wide release, previously only available to members of the Disney Movie Club. It is a barebones release in fullscreen format, but the picture and sound quality are good (at least to this layman's eyes and ears). Speaking as both a Disney fanatic and someone who loves Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn-based films, rediscovering this Disney treasure that is very similar in theme has been a real treat! As another reviewer stated so well, it very much feels like "Huckleberry Finn" meets "The Apple Dumpling Gang", so if you know those stories, you'll know exactly what to expect. For those who buy this film and enjoy it, I highly recommend not only those films (for Huck Finn, my favorite is the Disney/Elijah Wood version, though the Patrick Day one is the best for matching the book), but also "Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn" and other films about Twain's two classic rapscallions, not to mention other Disney films from the 1970's. It's most regularly considered the worst time at the Walt Disney studios, but some of us enjoy the films of that era as well. Each decade from the Disney Studios has its own special qualities that can be viewed as charming or otherwise. "Treasure of Matecumbe" is no exception, but regardless, it is a fine family adventure in its own right and should be a welcome addition to any home video library.