It was the second feature film based on the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, a previous adaptation having been released by RKO Pictures in 1940.

[3] Upon its release, Swiss Family Robinson was a major success with both critics and audiences and remains one of Disney's most beloved live-action feature films.

A ship carrying a Swiss family from Bern—Father, Mother, and their three sons, who are relocating to a colony in New Guinea to escape the Napoleonic Wars—is attacked by pirates.

The pirates locate the ship, but Father scares them off by putting up a quarantine flag, signaling Bubonic plague aboard.

To provide safety and comfort, Father, Fritz, and Ernst construct an elaborate tree house complete with a water wheel.

Mother, however, worries that her sons will never marry or have families if they are not rescued, and consents to allow Fritz and Ernst to circumnavigate the island in a homemade outrigger boat and search for other settlements.

They rescue a zebra from hyenas and a quicksand trap; using it as a mount, they arrive back at the tree house just in time for Christmas.

Kuala, the pirate captain, demands that they hand over Roberta, while his men sneak up the cliff side and attack from the rear.

Fritz and Roberta also decide to stay on the island, and the family waves goodbye to Ernst as he, the captain, and the ship's crew set out for England.

[4] Anderson talked with director Ken Annakin during filming of another live-action Disney picture, Third Man on the Mountain, near Zermatt (Switzerland).

The idea to have the brothers discover a girl dressed as a boy came from Janet Munro, who had been in Third Man in the Mountain and was then making Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

The choppy waters at Quashie (Carapuse) Bay in Belle Garden was used for anchoring the shipwreck against the rocks, giving the illusion that it was out at sea.

[13] Referring to the treehouse, Annakin said that "it was really solid—capable of holding twenty crew and cast and constructed in sections so that it could be taken apart and rebuilt on film by the family.

[10] Walt Disney Productions constructed a massive studio in Goodwood which housed replica indoor sets of both the shipwreck and the main room of the treehouse.

[10] The animals that were brought included eight dogs, two giant tortoises, forty monkeys, two elephants, six ostriches, four zebras, one hundred flamingos, six hyenas, two anacondas, and a tiger.

[16] Annakin wrote "Moochie" Corcoran "was wonderfully coordinated and had hung around so many animal trainers and stuntmen, that he knew exactly what was called for and how much of the action he could handle.

Their National Association of Theatrical and Kine Employees (NATKE) union representative, Cyril (Cid) Thawley, negotiated a new wage agreement which included overtime pay.

[19] After filming, the local Tobagonians convinced Disney, who had intended to remove all evidence of filmmaking, to let the treehouse remain, sans interior furnishing.

In 1960, the treehouse was listed for sale for $9,000, a fraction of its original cost, and later became a popular attraction among locals and tourists, before the structure was finally destroyed by Hurricane Flora in September 1963.

Three Tobagonians acted as stand-ins and doubles for the stars - James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, Janet Munro and Dorothy McGuire.

[33] The original disclaimers were updated in 2020 to acknowledge issues regarding racial stereotypes which “were wrong then and are wrong now.”[34] Specifically, critics have objected to the film's depiction of the villainous pirates, who are either portrayed by actors of color or by actors wearing makeup to appear Asian; one called it "grossly stereotypical, insulting, and unnecessary.

[40] A movie was ultimately made based on elements of Swiss Family Robinson, titled After Earth, starring Will and Jaden Smith and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and released in 2013.

[41] In 2011, actor Bill Paxton expressed serious interest in producing and starring in a remake of the original film: "I talked to a very prominent producer/filmmaker about the idea of teaming up to do this.

"[42] In 2014 it was announced that Steve Carell would possibly star in a modern update of the film, titled Brooklyn Family Robinson.