A bad movie can scar the reputation of a good book for many years. One such is The Lost Ones (1960), better known as Island at the Top of the World by Ian Cameron. Forget the Disney movie, forget David Hartman, forget the dirigible. Island is a great adventure book. This is a bold statement when you consider the last true classics of this genre date back to H Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The true adventure novel has long since disappeared. Or has it?
Cameron’s book is a real treat. Well-paced, a page-turner, and not much like the silly Disney movie. It is the most fun you can have for so cheap a price too. Go to any used book store and you’ll find a dozen copies in the cheapie bin. Unjustly forgotten. Island, like so many other books used by Hollywood, suffered from quick-buck merchandising. The 1974 cover features the movie poster and looks like a bad movie tie-in. People have forgotten the original along with the movie.
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https://www.michaelmay.online/2016/03/the-top-of-world-fiction-of-ian-cameron.html
A fine review. I only read the first two of the Cameron books cited. The movie was among Disney’s worst live action films. David Hartman, while an adequate tv host, never could act
I don’t know how I’ve never seen this – I’d buy anything with a Sasquatch on the cover.