Customer Reviews

Life on the Mississippi (Mark Twain Classics) [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful adaptation of Twain's autobiographical tale of a young man learning the profession of riverboat pilot in the mid-1800s. Young Sam (Clemens) convinces veteran pilot Mr. Bixby to take him on as a "cub" to learn the Mississippi river and become qualified as a pilot (the man who really operates a steamboat, not the captain). Robert Lansing's portrayal of Bixby sets the tone and authenticity of the world of the riverboat pilot, a profession that is as much a calling as the clergy or medicine. Young David Knell does a remarkable job of portraying the well-meaning neophyte who grows from ignorant beginner to seasoned veteran during the course of the story. What makes this movie a joy, though, is the humor and storytelling that made Mark Twain one of America's best-loved authors. A perfect family movie.

The original PBS aired version (and original VHS release) runs 115 minutes. Later video releases cut it to 54 minutes and are awful - half the movie is gone, making it a real mess to watch. Check the running time BEFORE buying a video version -- if it's not 115 minutes, pass!

Hopefully all of Peter Hunt's wonderful Mark Twain adaptations will be put out on DVD complete and uncut.

All of the Mark Twain Classics are excellent and very unusual. I would reccommend them to anyone who is looking for a movie that is quite different and very entertaining. I have bought the whole set of six from Amazon and I truly treasure them. The actors are unknown to me, which is refreshing. They do a excellent job of acting; in fact, you feel it is Mark Twain, himself, up there on the screen. They only come in VHS and are getting harder to find. But definitely worth your time.
Constance Blake
ciob@comcast.net

Life on the Mississippi was a gift for my husband, who loves the story. The disappointment was in the quality of the tape and not the story/movie. We could hardly understand the words due to scratchy/poor quality. We are returning it for a refund...and NO it wasn't a used tape - it was new.

I saw this movie back in a high school english class an frankly I don't remember much of it. But what I do remember is the beginning of this video, which in itself is enough to garner a barrel of laughs. Possibly more than one barrel.

The video starts with a gentleman measuring the depth of a river while travelling on a steamboat. His vocalization of the various depths are hilarious and worth the ... bucks this movie will cost you to purchase. At the very least, rent this movie!!!

THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeee FEET.

This is a great telling of the Mark Twain classic about his "life on the Mississippi" as a Steamboat pilot. He is training a younger pilot how to tackle all of the twists and turns and snags of the old man river while trying to explain his own facination with the job as pilot. Twain himself would look back at this as the happiest time of his life.

Robert Lansing plays a very credible Sam Clemons long before he becomes the irrascible, white haired, white suited ICON we all come to love and remember.

If you like Mark Twain, this is a must.