thatscool: Tree Life

Swiss Family Robinson (German: Der Schweizerische Robinson)

....written in 1812 by the Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss; this novel recounts the fictional tale of a family who, en route to Port Jackson, Australia, find themselves shipwrecked and lost in somewhere in the East Indies... while waiting for help, the family builds the most kick ass tree house EVER!

Movie set for Walt Disney's production of "Swiss Family Robinson." 1959.

Spotted by Art director John Howell through a gap in a fence surrounding a cricket field just outside the town of Goldsborough, Tobabgo. The 200-foot set was constructed in this living Samaan tree in 1959. Disney Studios originally planned to remove all evidence of movie-making from the island at the end of shooting, however the native Trinis fell in love with the structure and had it left as a tourist attraction. The treehouse structure was eventually ruined by a hurricane but the Samaan tree itself still survives today!!! ......What a tree.

Narrator: "On the golden sands of Miami Beach, a certain well-known champion of justice is secretly enjoying a much-needed rest. As he relaxes by the calm blue waters of the ocean, little does he realize that many miles away, float the victims of a shipwreck, the Swiss Cheese Family Robinson, hoping that somehow their message for help will reach civilization."

Free Spirit Sphere in British Colombia by Canadian carpenter Tom Chudleigh

Photograph by Eugenio Recuenco

Father Robinson: "Don't you sometimes feel that this is the kind of life we were meant to live on this earth? Everything we need, everything, right here, right at our fingertips. You know, if only people could have all this and be satisfied, I don't think there'd be any real problems in the world."