Truly Dreadful Film

Just perfect...

From my favorite movies..

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The first thing to note about "The Adventures of Mark Twain" is that it is by no stretch an accurate biography of Mark Twain. In that sense the film is unfortunate, because no doubt they could have still had an interesting film without the need for blatant inaccuracies.Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Fredric March is memorable as a witty and principled Twain. March dominates the movie, but the supporting cast gives notable performances as well. The film has a number of great humorous moments as befits a film about Twain. The problems and conflicts developed in the film, although often fictitious, are engaging.If you are looking for an accurate biography of Mark Twain, avoid this film. However, if you can tolerate the historical liberties, see "The Adventures of Mark Twain" for Fredric March's stellar performance as Twain.

A dull biography of Mark Twain is all Warner Bros. managed to do with this lumbering tale of the great author's progression from riverboat captain to editor to author--all accompanied by some jaunty Max Steiner music that holds the various segments together nicely. But it's still dull stuff.Credit FREDRIC MARCH with at least looking the part--although his heart doesn't seem to be in playing Twain with anything more than superficial likeness. Wouldn't you know ALAN HALE plays his rambunctious buddy--hey, it's a Warner flick. Percy Kilbride and John Carradine get short shrift but at least DONALD CRISP, the great character actor that he is, gets to play a more substantial role.Lovely ALEXIS SMITH is the love interest, as Libby, Twain's sweetheart who becomes his understanding wife. Alexis is so modern looking, even in period films, that somehow her characterization of the loyal wife seems false. But the script is so cliché ridden that even the romance doesn't seem real, not entirely her fault.Instead of being the colorful bio it should be, even events like the frog jumping contest comes off as pure hokum. Twain was the teller of tall tales but apparently the screenwriters weren't able to come up with anything resembling his true spirit.It's a tribute to Max Steiner that he was able to come up with a delightful background score in view of the fact that nothing on screen could have given him the inspiration needed.

Irving Rapper directs this biopic of the beloved American author Sam Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Fredrick March is excellent in his portrayal of Clemens from his early 20's to his death at age 75. The story goes that Sam's birth was ushered by Halley's Comet. This entertaining tale may not be accurate enough to be a serious biography, but is good enough to sustain Twain's legacy. Alexis Smith plays Twain's wife Olivia, who understands that her husband may always be a boy at heart. His tales of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn remain enduring as the day he introduced them. The prolific writer had a major financial reversal due to bad investments and his struggle to publish the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Twain would go on a world wide speaking tour to pay off his debts before his death. Most memorable is the film's finale with spirits of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn urging the spirit of Twain to join them in heaven...just at the time Halley's Comet streaks the sky. In supporting roles are: Donald Crisp, John Carradine, Percy Kilbride, Alan Hale and William Henry.

I have always admired Fredric March as an actor. This roll showed his great versatility. The writing and editing of Mark Twain's life into this movie makes it one of the finest biographical movies of all time. The soliloquy by the chancellor of Oxford, played by C. Abrey Smith, encapsulates the life of Twain, better than any I've heard or read since. This movie is a must for any student of American literature.