''Huckleberry Finn'' is a surviving American silent dramatic rural film from 1920, based on Mark Twain's 1884 classic ''

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...

''. It was produced by

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

and distributed through Paramount Pictures.

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

directed ''Huckleberry Finn'', as he had the 1917 film version of ''

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawyer, ...

'', using a scenario written by

Julia Crawford Ivers Julia Crawford Ivers (October 3, 1869 – May 8, 1930) was an American motion picture pioneer. Biography Born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1869, her family arrived a year later in Los Angeles. Her father was a dentist. Her mother died in 1876, wh ...

, who also had been the writer for ''Tom Sawyer''. It was the first version of the story entirely entrusted to a youth cast.

Lewis Sargent Lewis Sargent (August 19, 1903 – November 19, 1970) was an American film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1917 and 1949. Biography Sargent was born in Los Angeles on August 19, 1903. He had 8 brothers and sisters. His father Lewis ...

(''Huck'') and

Gordon Griffith Gordon S. Griffith (July 4, 1907 – October 12, 1958) was an American assistant director, film producer, and one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. Griffith worked in the film industry for five decades, acting in ov ...

(''Tom'') were child actors who already had a long and successful career and were well known to the public.

Plot

As described in a film publication, Huckleberry Finn (Sargent) has been adopted by the Widow Douglas (K. Griffith) who plans to "civilize" him. With Tom Sawyer (G. Griffith) he forms a robber gang, and in a cave has the local boys take an oath to stick together. In his bedroom he runs into his no-account father (Lanning) who steals Huck's small change and later kidnaps Huck, taking him in a small boat down the river, while Tom and the gang wait for their leader to appear. Huck later escapes from a cabin where his father mistreated him, making it look as if he drowned while getting away in a canoe. Rumors of Huck's death spreads. Jim (Reed), the widow's slave boy, hears that he is to be sold and runs off, and joins Huck on a raft. Duke (Humphrey) and King (Bates), two broken-down actors fleeing a crowd they had fooled with a mock theatrical performance, join them. At the next town the actors again fool the people with a pretend theatrical performance with Huck acting as the doorkeeper. Further downstream the actors then impersonate the brothers of a deceased man named Wilks in an attempt to obtain the inheritance, but Huck takes the money to keep it from the actors after he is smitten by the daughter, Mary Jane Wilks (Ralston). Huck and Jim leave to escape the wrath of their former companions just as the actual relatives of the dead man show up. After peace is made when King and Duke rejoin the group, a shabby trick is performed when King sells Jim to a man named Phelps and then tells Huck that Jim has been lost. Upon learning the truth, Huck sets out to rescue his friend. He discovers that Mrs. Phelps (Moore) is the sister of Tom's Aunt Polly. Huck poses as the nephew Tom, whom Mrs. Phelps has never met. Then the real Tom arrives, who is surprised as he believed that Huck had died. After exchanging signals, Tom poses as his brother Sid and they go through with a plan. In a struggle to get Jim away, Tom is shot in the leg. Jim escapes, and while the two youngsters are congratulating themselves at Tom's sickbed, Aunt Polly arrives and says that Jim had been freed a month earlier. She informs the Phelps of Huck's actual identity and takes him back, cured of his wandering, to the Widow Douglas.

Cast

– Huckleberry Finn *

Katherine Griffith Katherine Kiernan Griffith (September 30, 1876Katherine Kiernan Griffith's birthdate varies in sources; September 30, 1876 is the date on her gravestone in Colma, California, via Ancestry, IMDB, and Find a Grave. – October 17, 1921), also seen ...

– Widow Douglas *

Martha Mattox Martha Mattox (June 19, 1879 – May 2, 1933) was an American silent film actress most notable for her role of Mammy Pleasant in the 1927 film '' The Cat and the Canary''. She also played a role in ''Torrent'' (1926). She died from a heart ...

– Miss Watson *

Frank Lanning Frank Lanning (August 14, 1872 – June 17, 1945) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 84 films between 1910 and 1934. He was born in Marion, Iowa and died in Los Angeles, California. Lanning's film debut came in ''The Me ...

– Huck's father * Orral Humphrey – The Duke *Tom Bates – The King (*as Tom D. Bates) *

– Tom Sawyer *

Edythe Chapman Edythe Chapman (October 8, 1863 – October 15, 1948) was an American stage and silent film actress. Career Born in Rochester, New York, Chapman began her stage career as early as 1898 when she appeared in New York City in ''The Charity Bal ...

– Aunt Polly *

Thelma Salter Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see ''thelema''). Note that altho ...

– Becky Thatcher * George H. Reed – Jim *

L. M. Wells Louis "L. M." Wells (February 5, 1862 – January 1, 1923) was an American actor of the silent film era. A tall, robust actor who was nicknamed "Daddy," L. M. appeared in 51 films between 1912 and 1922 — many of which were Universal wester ...

– Judge Thatcher * Harry L. Rattenberry – Uncle Harvey *

Esther Ralston Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was '' To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and career Ralston was born Esther Loui ...

– Mary Jane Wilks *

Fay Lemport Fay Lemport (born c. 1901) was an American actress known for her role in ''Daddy-Long-Legs'' (1919). She appeared in three films between 1919 and 1920. A 1919 article said that she had received 39 marriage proposals in one month. After receivin ...

– Johanna * Eunice Murdock Moore – Mrs. Sally Phelps (*as Eunice Van Moore)

Unbilled

*Tom Ashton - An Aged Pirate *Howard Ralston - One of the Boys

Preservation status

This film has been restored by the International Film and Photography Museum at

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

.''The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20'' by The American Film Institute, c.1988

References

External links

* *
Huck Finn's First Film
a

Stephen Railton, University of Virginia (has several stills)
Trailer for restored version of film
George Eastman House, youtube.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Huckleberry Finn 1920 films American silent feature films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by William Desmond Taylor Films based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn American black-and-white films Films set in the 19th century Silent American drama films 1920 drama films Surviving American silent films 1920s American films