USA, 1944
130m35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American biopic with some fantasy sequences directed by Irving Rapper.
Plot Summary
A bio-pic of Mark Twain, narrated by the author after his death. A miniature Huck Finn appears to read one of Twain's manuscripts and reappears at the end to escort Twain's spirit into the afterlife.
Credits
Crew
Director: Irving Rapper
Warner Brothers
Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Script: Alan le May
Adaptation: Alan le May, Harold H. Sherman
Additional Dialogue: Harry Chandlee
Play: Mark Twain by Harold H. Sherman
Directors of Photography: Sol Polito; Lawrence W. Butler [uncredited], James Leicester [uncredited], Edwin Linden [uncredited], Don Siegel [uncredited]
Editor: Ralph Dawson
Montage: James Leicester, Don Siegel
Music: Max Steiner
Sound: Robert B. Lee
Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly
Make Up: Perc Westmore
Special Effects: Lawrence W. Butler, Edward Linden
Photographic Effects: John Crouse, Paul Detlefsen
Art Director: John Hughes
Cast
Fredric March (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain)
Alexis Smith (Olivia Langdon Clemens)
Donald Crisp (J.B. Pond)
Alan Hale (Steve Gillis)
C. Aubrey Smith (Oxford chancellor)
John Carradine (Bret Harte)
Bill Henry (Charles Langdon)
Robert Barrat (Horace E. Bixby)
Walter Hampden (Jervis Langdon)
Joyce Reynolds (Clara Clemens)
Whitford Kane (Joe Goodwin)
Percy Kilbride (Billings)
Nana Bryant (Mrs Langdon)
Jackie Brown (Samuel Clemens as a boy)
Dickie Jones (Samuel Clemens aged 13)
Russell Gleason (Orion Clemens)
Joseph Crehan (General U.S. Grant)
Douglas Wood (William Dean Howell)
Gloria Ann Crawford
Lynn Baggett (Susie)
Alternative Titles
Die Abenteuer Mark Twains – Austrian/German title
Las aventuras de Mark Twain – Venezuelan title
Historien om Mark Twain – Danish television title
Mark Twainin seikkailut – Finnish title
Mark Twains äventyr – Swedish title
Il pilota del Mississippi – Italian title
References
Periodicals
- Kinematograph Weekly no.1946 (3 August 1944) – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.11 no.128 (August 1944) p.88 – credits, synopsis, review
- Motion Picture Herald vol.155 no.6 (6 May 1944) – review
- New York Motion Picture Critics Review vol.1 no.2 (22 May 1944) pp.386, 387 – credits, review
- Today's Cinema 27 July 1944 – review
Books
- Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again by John Stanley p.12 – credits, review
- John Carradine: The Films by Tom Weaver – review
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.4 – credits
