vincentlynch-moonoi Review of The Adventures of Mark Twain

The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)

What I Expect From A 1940s Bio-pic

[7/10 · 23 January 2011]

I sort of chuckled when I read a few of the other reviews. I didn't know anyone realistically expected biopics from the 1930s through 1950s to be accurate. I'm not sure I've ever seen one that was. What I realistically expect is to sometimes find biopics from that era to have a shade of truth and some good acting. From that perspective, this is pretty darned good! Frederick March is far from one of my favorite actors, but as he matured I found him to be quite good, and in this film, excellent. Most of the supporting actors do fine, including Alexis Smith, Alan Hale, and the always welcome Donald Crisp. The production values are surprisingly good, although as one reviewer pointed out, the ship Twain piloted couldn't have possibly had the gambling hall depicted. As one reviewer pointed out, the details of Twain's bankruptcy were botched, but in terms of being an entertaining movie, it was close enough to keep the plot moving forward. If you want an accurate biography, this isn't it (although it's certainly closer to the truth than, for example, the Cary Grant biopic of Cole Porter).