Wonderful character development!

Just perfect...

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I was never a big fan of Mark Twain's works, maybe because I'm a girl and Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn's adventures never struck me as being all that special, or maybe because I'm not from the south and the Mississippi River has never held any intrigue for me, but I enjoy this film, and I've seen it several times.I don't know much about the accuracy of the events, and I couldn't tell you if the details are true or the publishing timeline is correct the way some of the other comments have mentioned, but every time I watch this movie I am distracted by one thing ... could it be that his wife actually called him Mark and not Sam?

Of course, this biography of Mark Twain will be of interest to any admirer of the man - which is why I rented it - or to any fan of Fredric March, who gives a fine performance as usual...however, the complexity and objectivity we'd expect of a modern biography is sorely lacking. Sure, some of Twain's less successful moments and un-PC jokes are depicted in this movie, but the overall tone is 100% laudatory. This movie indulges in several clichés of the biopic genre, such as the twirling-newspaper montage sequences, as well as a greatest-hits jokes montage featuring audiences cackling like they're on drugs. Many plot points seem manipulatively sentimental, and the performances by some supporting players are mawkishly earnest and come off as laughable to the modern viewer. And - of course - the portrayal of African Americans is, to put it politely, unfortunate. The movie, in order to end on a relatively high note, leaves out some of Twain's later life tragedies and more bitter attitudes he adopted in his old age. Happily, this first big attempt at a Twain film biography was not the last and Twain fans received better film portraits of the author in subsequent years.

The first thing to note about "The Adventures of Mark Twain" is that it is by no stretch an accurate biography of Mark Twain. In that sense the film is unfortunate, because no doubt they could have still had an interesting film without the need for blatant inaccuracies.Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Fredric March is memorable as a witty and principled Twain. March dominates the movie, but the supporting cast gives notable performances as well. The film has a number of great humorous moments as befits a film about Twain. The problems and conflicts developed in the film, although often fictitious, are engaging.If you are looking for an accurate biography of Mark Twain, avoid this film. However, if you can tolerate the historical liberties, see "The Adventures of Mark Twain" for Fredric March's stellar performance as Twain.

This film is fun; it has some fine performances (I especially like Frederic March's lecture scenes) and a great Max Steiner score. However, a faithful biography of Mark Twain it is not. Apart from the fact that the script twists and distorts events in Mark Twain's life nearly out of recognition, it presents a false portrayal of him as a sentimental sap suffering from arrested development who probably wouldn't have written a word without his wife's persistent prodding.Some examples of egregious distortions of fact:* Mark Twain did not go west to get rich so he could marry Livy Clemens (he never even heard of her until after leaving the West)* his jumping frog story did not alleviate the nation's pains during the Civil War (it wasn't published until after the war ended)* he didn't leave Nevada to fight for the Confederacy when the war started (he went to Nevada partly to get away from the war after it started)* publishing U. S. Grant's memoirs didn't cause his bankruptcy (that publication was a huge success; his bankruptcy came 7 years later)* when he went on his round-the-world lecture tour, he didn't leave his wife behind not knowing she was gravely ill (she and a daughter went with him; her health was fine at that time)* his wife didn't make him promise to go to England to accept an Oxford degree (she died three years before he got the invitation)According a friend of Mark Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, Clara was not allowed to set foot on the film's sets while it was being made, for fear she would confuse the cast and crew with the truth.For a more detailed dissection of the film, see my book, MARK TWAIN A TO Z, which compares the episodes of the film with the real events in Mark Twain's life. And for a film that presents a more honest portrait of Mark Twain, see the 1985 claymation feature of the same title: THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN.Meanwhile, there is a simple test you can make while watching the film: Prepare a list of Mark Twain's books in the order in which they were published. As you watch the film, pay attention each scene mentioning a new Mark Twain book, give it a sequential number, and write that number next to the title in your list. When the film is over, compare your numbers to the sequence in which Mark Twain actually wrote the books. If you want to make the test even more fun, try keeping track of the years in which the books appear in the film. What you'll end up with is a hopeless mishmash, leaving you uncertain whether the film follows Mark Twain's life forward or backward.Is it necessary for a film biography to get all all its facts correct? Probably not. But is it excusable for a film get almost all its facts wrong?Trivia note: An early scene shows the bedroom in which Mark Twain was born. Study the size of the room carefully. Then, when the film cuts to an outside view of the house (which looks authentic, by the way), ask yourself if it's physically possible for the bedroom to fit inside that house--even if it's the only room in the house.You can apply the same test to the steamboat in which Mark Twain later appears: Is it possible that the steamboat you see is big enough to contain the gaming room in which Mark Twain first appears?As I said, it's a fun movie in many ways ... but don't make the mistake of thinking that it has much to do with Mark Twain.