The abandoned ship turns up on an offshore rock, allowing him to salvage food, tools, firearms and other items before it sinks.

He herds goats, hunts game, makes clothes, and builds a home, with only the company of a dog, Rex, and a cat, Sam, his only fellow castaways; he later captures a parrot which he names Paul and teaches it to speak.

When Friday enters without permission late one night to sneak some tobacco, Crusoe puts leg irons on him.

Captain Oberzo and his bosun are the victims of a mutiny; the mutineers landed to get fresh water and maroon the two.

Friday then goes to the leader of the mutiny, offering him a basket of fruit, but the mutineers are more interested in the necklace of gold coins (salvaged from Crusoe's ship) he is wearing.

[5] Negotiations with O'Herlihy occurred at the last moment and under strict conditions of secrecy to prevent a wealthier motion picture studio from rushing a similar story into production.

Principal photography was scheduled for seven weeks, with both an English and Spanish language version shot simultaneously.

A security squad of local Manzanillans kept snakes, wild boar, and other dangerous animals at bay with guns and machetes.

Three times a week, Buñuel, Phillips, the producers, O'Herlihy, and others watched the rushes in a local movie theater.

[6] For the Spanish version, O'Herlihy's dialogue was dubbed by Buñuel 's regular collaborator Claudio Brook.

According to O'Herlihy, Buñuel saw the central theme of the story as that of a man who ages and almost loses his mind, only to find that companionship is his salvation.

[8] The producers initially believed the film would be ready for distribution by December 1952,[6] but numerous delays upset these plans.

On October 14, 1953, the producers announced that United Artists had signed an agreement for worldwide distribution rights to the film.