The dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly aft... Read allThe dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly after Halley's Comet returned.The dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly after Halley's Comet returned.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 3 nominations total
- Charles Langdon
- (as Bill Henry)
- Pickpocket
- (uncredited)
- Secretary
- (uncredited)
- Worried Buffalo Merchant
- (uncredited)
- Susie Clemens
- (uncredited)
- Elderly Woman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scene in which Clemens receives an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 was the re-creation of an event that C. Aubrey Smith, who plays the Oxford chancellor, actually witnessed.
- GoofsThe film first shows Mark Twain wearing his famous white suit as the author speaks to his wife Livy, while she is on her deathbed. Twain began wearing the suit only after he had finished mourning his wife's death, at which time he swore he would wear only white for the rest of his life. (Michael Shelden recounted this in the opening of his biography, "Mark Twain: Man in White -- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years.")
- Quotes
Mark Twain: Ladies and gentlemen, William Shakespeare, the greatest author in the English language is dead.....and I feel far from well myself.
- ConnectionsFeatures They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
Warner Brothers did a fabulous makeup job on March and his skill as a player makes you really believe you're watching Mark Twain in action. At least this is the public image that Twain liked to convey that of a shrewd observer into the foibles of the nature of man.
One of the things that does show is the love match that was made with Olivia Langdon and Sam Clemens. It's not much of a part in terms of something to work with, but Alexis Smith is a kind and loving help mate to March something the real Olivia was to Clemens. Mark Twain's private life contained not a hint of scandal in all of his 76 years on earth.
In wartime especially American audiences liked to see those values affirmed. But with the deaths of Olivia and a favored daughter, the shrewd cynicism of Twain multiplied exponentially. What we don't see in the last several years of his life Twain becoming a brooding pessimist about life and the afterlife in general. The rollicking humorist that wrote about the Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County became an almost Stephen King like figure when his posthumous story The Mysterious Stranger was published. If there's a more pessimistic work out there, I'd like to know about it.
When Alexis Smith says to March in the film that he's captured youth itself on page, she was referring to Tom Sawyer. In that and to an even greater extent in Huckleberry Finn, Twain was able to channel his Mississippi childhood into the book. It's not the adult Twain who observes human nature in either book, but it's the child Sam Clemens. That's the power both works have and they are what set Mark Twain's name firmly among literary immortals.
The Adventures Of Mark Twain received three Oscar nominations, for Special Effects, for Art&Set Direction, and for its musical score by Max Steiner. Special mention should also go to Donald Crisp who plays Twain's literary agent especially for the lengths at which he goes to find the guy who published that jumping frog story under a pseudonym.
The Adventures Of Mark Twain succeeds in capturing the public Mark Twain and the private Sam Clemens. I think the viewer will like both of them when they see the film.
- bkoganbing
- Jan 31, 2010
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Las aventuras de Mark Twain
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 hours 10 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1