Las aventuras de Mark Twain

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.

Fredric March is an absolute pro, so if you're watching one of his movies, there's a high likelihood that you'll see him give a wonderful performance. He made a few stinky movies, but The Adventures of Mark Twain isn't one of them. It's a very interesting biopic about one of America's most beloved authors.

Full of interesting tidbits, like how he picked out his pen name, and including well-known interests that permeated his life, like time travel, you'll learn an awful lot about Mark Twain. One of his books is one of my favorites of all time, so I was particularly moved to find out the personal tragedy that surrounded him before he got the idea to write A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I've read it many times, but it's never made as much sense to me as it does now that I've seen this movie. If you're a Mark Twain fan, I highly recommend you watch this movie.

Arguably the gentleman born in Hannibal Missouri with the arrival of Halley's Comet named Samuel Langhorne Clemens at birth is America's greatest man of letters. Though his character was a great deal more complex than what you see in slightly over two hours Mark Twain, The Adventures Of Mark Twain presents the most positive aspects of his character as realized on screen by Fredric March.

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.

Frederic March has a wonderful time playing the great author with all his humor and wisdom. This film is often overlooked, but it is one of the great bio-flicks. The settings, cast, Max Steiner score, and magic of the adventures add up to a funny and touching movie.

With a film like this available, I can report that the rumors of Mark Twain's death are indeed exaggerated.

If you love Mark Twain, then you will adore this great biographical film. The movie is not just the run of the mill biography made in the 1930's and 40's, but an amusing comedy, drama, and romance as one can imagine. Frederic March is so marvelous as Mark Twain, if Mark Twain was alive to have seen this movie...he would have definitely had said, "It seems that the news of my death has been greatly over exaggerated".

You will find that the art of movie making, great acting, and a superb story is, The Adventures of Mark Twain.