Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Muppet Treasure Island arrived from Walt Disney Pictures in 1996, the third Muppet feature under the Henson banner following the Muppets' return to family adventure comedy after a run of television specials. Directed by Brian Henson, it reimagined Robert Louis Stevenson's classic with Tim Curry as Long John Silver, folding puppetry and songcraft into a pirate tale for a new generation. It stands as one of the more enduring Muppet films, prized for blending literary adaptation with the troupe's irreverent humor, keeping the franchise alive theatrically in the years after Jim Henson's passing.
This cell centers on Captain Abraham Smollett, the ship's commanding officer whose stern professionalism grounds the voyage amid the Muppets' chaos. Collectors seek him out as a rarer figure from the film, a straight man role that gives ballast to the comedy surrounding him. A cell bearing his name and nothing more suggests a single frame drawn from the print itself, a fragment of celluloid preserved for what it represents rather than a posed publicity image, offering a direct physical link to the character's presence in the finished picture.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Muppet Treasure Island (1996).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a dual bilateral or single variable-area format; Dolby Digital data blocks appear present in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, suggesting a combined optical and Dolby Digital soundtrack strip.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any manufacturer code, key number, or SAFETY FILM legend.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight warm-amber tint typical of processed colour print stock; the dye image reads as a warm, saturated colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratches are visible running through the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot and the puppet character visible is consistent with the Muppet Treasure Island (1996) production.
Era check
The combination of a colour positive print base, variable-area optical track, and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1996 release date of the film on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063432
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
