Huckleberry Finn (1920)

Director:

William Desmond Taylor

Writers:

Julia Crawford Ivers
Mark Twain (novel)

Release Date:

29 February 1920 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Huckleberry Finn, a rambuctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish...

Plot Keywords:

Huckleberry Finn | Teacher | Rural | School Teacher | Aunt

Cast

Lewis Sargent	...	Huckleberry Finn
Katherine Griffith	...	Widow Douglas
Martha Mattox	...	Miss Watson
Frank Lanning	...	Huck's Father
Orral Humphrey	...	The Duke
Tom Bates	...	The King (as Tom D. Bates)
Gordon Griffith	...	Tom Sawyer
Edythe Chapman	...	Aunt Polly
Thelma Salter	...	Becky Thatcher
George Reed	...	Jim
L.M. Wells	...	Judge Thatcher
Harry L. Rattenberry	...	Uncle Harvey
Esther Ralston	...	Mary Jane Wilks
Fay Lemport	...	Johanna
Eunice Murdock Moore	...	Mrs. Sally Phelps (as Eunice Van Moore)
Charles Edler	...	School Teacher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Ashton	...	An aged pirate (uncredited)
Howard Ralston	...	One of the Boys (uncredited)

Directed by
William Desmond Taylor

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Julia Crawford Ivers
Mark Twain		novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Produced by
William Desmond Taylor	....	producer

Cinematography by
Frank E. Garbutt

Camera and Electrical Department
G.O. Post	....	still photographer

Other crew
Jesse L. Lasky	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures (as Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1920) (USA) (theatrical) (as Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)

Runtime:

USA:70 min | USA:84 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The film was considered lost until 1962, when a 35mm archive copy was discovered in Denmark. In 2006, George Eastman House began restoration of the film, re-translating from Danish to English and recreating the color tinting. Unfortunately, many of the film's colloquialisms were lost in translation and had to be speculatively recreated using the initial novel and press material related to the film's initial release for references. As of 2011, no existing copies of the original English language version are known to exist.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Huckleberry Finn:You need to write a new story on me, don't you? Here you go - here is something to start from...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Colossus and the Headhunters (#7.5)" (1994)

Nice Version of Twain's Story

Huckleberry Finn (1920)

*** (out of 4)

The now infamous William Desmond Taylor directed this very first adaptation of Mark Twain's novel, which has Lewis Sargent playing Huck. This is a fairly straight adaptation hitting on the key moments in the story has Huck and the runaway slave Jim (George Reed) head down the Mississippi River getting into one situation after another. This here was a lost film until 1962 when a print turned up in a Danish vault and it took until 2011 for George Eastman House to restore it. It should be noted that there were some issues doing this including them having to translate the title cards from Danish to English, which caused some of the dialogue to have to be taken directly from the novel. Another issue is that there are at least three sequences that are still missing and these here get a title card of what you should be seeing. With that said, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I enjoyed this picture. Yes, it's not 100% the novel but then again very few films are that faithful. What I enjoyed most was the performance of Sargent who I thought was excellent in the role. I thought he brought a youthful energy to the part and I really couldn't help but think he's one of the best I've seen in the role. He certainly kept the character going at full speed and there's no question that he was fun to watch. Reed was also excellent in the role of Jim as he manages to bring some nice humor. Gordon Griffith is good as Tom Sawyer and Edythe Chapman also stands out as Aunt Polly. The direction is pretty good throughout as the pacing is nice and there's never really any slow moments.