THE LAST FLIGHT OF NOAH'S ARK

US, 1980, 97 minutes, Colour.
Elliott Gould, Genevieve Bujold, Ricky Schroeder, Vincent Gardenia, Tammy Lauren.
Directed by Charles Jarrott.

An entertaining Disney adventure - enough for the children but entertainment also designed for the adults taking the children! This is particularly the case with Elliott Gould and the charming Genevieve Bujold. as the leads. There are two orphans on board the ark as well as numerous animals. There are also some comic Japanese soldiers - who, initially, have not heard that World War II is over. There is romance, adventure, disasters at sea before an inevitable final rescue.

Ricky Schroeder is there for the children - as well as adoring mothers! The film is an adventure with nods to the story of Noah especially in the final rescue and escape from the island. There are also echoes of all the Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe stories. Elliott Gould worked for Disney with The Devil and Max Devlin. Director Charles Jarrott – Anne Of A Thousand Days, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Dove, The Other Side Of Midnight, also worked for Disney in the mining story, Escape To The Dark.

1. Entertaining Disney family film? The perennial popularity of this kind of adventure story - with romance and children and animals? the quality of this story?

2. The significance of the title - Noah's Ark, the flood, the animals, the sending out of birds to see whether the flood had subsided? The possibility of building a new world? The fable touch for this film?

3. The colour photography and the atmosphere - of the drab United States, the Pacific island, the sea adventure? The musical score? The special effects - especially for the plane, for the last flight of Noah's Ark? The storm, the shark, the rescues?

4. The plausibility of the plot - sufficient for a family Disney film? Dugan and his need to escape from his creditors? His skills as a pilot? Bernadette and her missionary determination to get to the South Pacific mission? The decrepit plane? The orphans and the animals? The discovery of the Japanese soldiers? Hostility, friendliness? The escape with the upturned plane - adventures and rescue? The events as larger than life for the purposes of entertainment?

5. Elliott Gould's nonchalant style as Noah? the echoes of his other films in his escape from his creditors and the chase comedy? His flying the plane? Antagonism towards Bernadette? The crash? His antagonism towards the Japanese? His falling in love with Bernadette? His reaction to the orphans? Sympathetic? Against them? His reaction to the animals especially Brutus? The energy put into the making of the new Noah's Ark? The heroics at sea? A humorous American hero?

6. Bernadette and her missionary zeal, the orphans and the farewells, the children stowing away, her upsetting the compass? The crash? Her antagonism towards Noah especially with the Japanese soldiers? Her friendship? Their working with her? The escape and the final romance? A vigorous heroine?

7. Bobby and Julie? Disney children? American clean-cut and charm? Love for Bernadette, stowing away, difficulties for Noah, their love for Brutus? The happy life on the island? Friendship with the Japanese soldiers? Building the ark? The adventures, especially with the shark and the storm? Hunger? The happy ending?

8. The portrait of the Japanese soldiers? echoes of World War II, the fears, the comic and farcical aspects of their becoming friends with Noah and Bernadette? Their collaboration on the ark ? their skills? the rescue?

9. The minor characters, especially the pursuers of Noah at the beginning, the owner of the plane and the deals about taking it? The rescuers at the end?

10. Comedy sequences? Noah's chase, the flight, the crash, settling into the island, the encounters with the Japanese, making the ark?

11. The crises and adventure, especially with the crash, the final voyage?

12. Audience response to this kind of conventional fable? heroes and heroines, good intentions? Sermons about values and the right way of living life? How successfully do the Disney films blend the moralising with the entertainment?