Die Abenteuer von Tom Sawyer und Huckleberry Finn

That's saying a bit seeing as adaptations of both books have been hit-and-miss in quality, especially with Huckleberry Finn. Both have very good adaptations(Tom Sawyer with the 1938 film, Huckleberry Finn with the Mickey Rooney film) but none outstanding. Until this 26-part 11-hour show, which is very close to perfect(apart from occasional lapses in dubbing and lip-synching particularly with Aunt Polly). Huckleberry Finn and His Friends is beautifully and authentically filmed with very appropriately chosen locations. The music is lilting and haunting in equal measures depending on the tone of each scene, with a theme tune that will leave you humming for days. The dialogue has the spirit of Mark Twain's way with words and phrasing with some light-hearted humour and some very touching and dark moments. The story is incredibly compelling from the get go and captures the details and spirit of the storytelling of both books, even with the odd omission here and there. It is also one of the few adaptations of either book that not just captures the lighter nostalgic charm as seen in the friendship between Tom and Huck(Becky and particularly Jim also) but also the grimmer, darker aspects, like with Injun Joe(his leap from the court-room is not one to forget) and Pap, doing that while balancing them adeptly. The acting is very, very good especially from a superb Ian Tracey as Huck, and he is supported wonderfully by in particular a spirited Tom, a creepy Injun Joe, the roguish Duke and Dauphin, a brutish Pap, a kindly Aunt Polly and a very dignified Jim. All in all, a wonderful show and the best version of either book, if you haven't read either yet do, Huckleberry Finn is a little hard to get into at first but they're both excellent. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I've watched the series 6 times throughout the years. First in the Netherlands and Belgian TV then the German dubbed version. Hopefully the DVD will also be distributed in the Netherlands. I still have the scrapbook with newspaper and TV-guide cuttings that I started in 1980 and it was useful for my book reports at school. All the girls fell in love with Ian Tracey, no kidding. I remained to follow Ian's acting career, but being over here in The Netherlands,we get to miss most of the news. But hooray for Internet, it's a great help to find articles and photo's. I'm sure that there are a lot of Dutch fans waiting to enjoy the series once more. I know certainly will!

Don't know why they don't show it on tv now for kids. I remember in 1985 i used to get up and have breakfast then run into the living room to watch it. It was on everyday for 6 weeks at 9-30 am every weekday mourning during the summer school holidays along with other programmes such as "silas" and "jack holburn" all 3 of these programmes where producted by a west german companies, but they were all good. The BBC or ITV should show them again, I remember the first time we see tom sawyer in the Huck Finn programmes whit washing aunt polly's fence, class.

I used to come home from school on my lunch hour just to watch that show. It brings back memories just thinking about that time... I hope they show it again soon on tv. The only flaw would probably be that it didn't run long enough.

I remember watching this series through about twice on the BBC when I was a kid in England. Wish I could get it all on video!!

I thought it was a great adaptation. Indian Jo and Pappy were such meanies!!!