Of all the screen adaptations of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel, screenwriter-director Luis Buñuel’s “Robinson Crusoe” (1954) is considered the most meditative. He dispenses with before-and-after stories, dwelling instead on his protagonist’s prolonged isolation, and his defiant revival of a beleaguered mind, body, and spirit.
Shipwrecked merchant Robinson Crusoe (Dan O’Herlihy) is marooned on an island; he salvages food, clothes, and tools from the sinking wreck before building a life onshore. Battling fatigue, fear, and the odd fever, he builds a home and a livelihood. For years, he gets by with only animals for company.
