Change Your Image
schmidtbrb
Reviews
88 Days in the Mother Lode: Mark Twain Finds His Voice (2015)
A well-told story of a critical time in Mark Twain's life
From my review for the Mark Twain Forum: In early December 1864 Sam Clemens and his roommate Steve Gillis left San Francisco one step ahead of the law. Gillis had gotten into a bar room brawl, injured a man whose life was teetering in the balance, and been jailed and bailed out by Clemens who didn't have the funds to cover the bail if Gillis skipped town. Gillis headed to Virginia City, and Clemens headed to Jackass Hill in Tuolumne County to lay low for a few months with Gillis's brothers, Jim and Billy, and their mining partner Dick Stoker. Clemens would not return to San Francisco until February 26, 1865. However, Mark Twain scholars agree that what happened to Clemens during those eighty-eight days turned out to be a motherlode of inspiration and stimulus to his future career as a writer.
The documentary examines the events leading up to this time period, what happened at Jackass Hill and nearby Angels Camp, and the outcome. John C. Brown and Bert Simonis are new names in the field of Mark Twain scholarship. Their respective lists of previous productions are short in comparison to other documentary film makers who have attempted to tell the story of the enigmatic life of Samuel Clemens. Brown and Simonis have scored a commendable success in this initial foray into Twain biography.