Customer Reviews

Mark Twain - A Film Directed by Ken Burns

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This has to be one of the best documentaries on a literary figure that has ever been made. In the hands of Ken Burns, the richness and subtlety, the humour and tragedy, the successes and dismal failures and a true sustained analysis of the life of Samuel Clemens all combines to give us a personal and intellectual understanding of this towering literary icon of the 19th century. Twain was many things - a riverboat pilot, printer, journalist, miner, speculator, failed business man, and satirist, but most of all a novelist, a grand storyteller that spoke to royalty, presidents as well as the common people. Ernest Hemingway once said that American literature began with the publication of Huckleberry Finn. Twain chose to write this book in the language of the vernacular, while other writers maintained an allegiance to English prose, Huck Finn's voice rose above conformity, informing the American public that the black American was not just a commodity, an object of scorn and prejudice, but a human being. This book not only changed our views on literature but our humanity as well. This film does not skim over the surface of Twain's life and work, but digs deeper into his motivations and inspirations in the context of his environment.

~Mark Twain~ took almost three years to produce, which includes hundreds of photographs, actual film footage of the man at home, informed interviews with Twain scholars and writers that give us keen insights into his life and work. What this film shows is that not only is his literature extraordinary, but his life as well. And this life is told mainly through the words of the man himself. Twain lived a dual persona, the man and the celebrity. As another writer has said, this dual persona came to symbolize the emerging American conflict between down-to-earth-morality and freewheeling ambition. Twain lived an extravagant life though hated everything that this represented. He was the author of the Gilded Age, a scathing satire on the post civil war period in which the country prospered and money was worshiped above all things, yet his wealth and lifestyle emulated that very thing he was satirizing. He claimed that he wasn't American, but `the' American. He was a man of genius and contradictions but above all, human, a man who showed us through his work, with a sly wink, that we're all human and essentially in the same boat.

This film is undoubtedly one of the best portraits of Mark Twain ever to be done. After watching the film in its entirety, I was hard pressed to find any genuine criticisms, other than minor quibbles and therefore not worth mentioning. If this sounds like unqualified praise for ~Mark Twain~, it is.

Ken Burns has done it again! This time with a 220-minute masterpiece of a documentary about the life, times and work of America's best writer -- Mark Twain. Fantastic photographs, interviews, story-telling (and even some rare video footage of Twain himself) make this a marvel from beginning to end. Substantial time is devoted to Twain's wild youth, his wildly productive years and his (yes, wild) years before his death. Excellent interviews with Hal Holbrook and Athur Miller add to this important document (that, in this reviewers mind, was a long-time-coming).

First: This is a great DVD, and anyone who loves Twain, literature, or Americana must see it. Second: This is one person's version of what is most important about Twain's life. But how could it be otherwise? Vast areas of interest are either glossed, or omitted. Twain's big time interest in spirituality and the then emergent metaphysics was not covered. And yet, in his later real life, this was arguably Twain's consuming passion, resulting in virtually all of his writings from the late 1880s onwards. That's just an example. There are others, including Twain's own writings about his Civil War experiences as a Confederate gunboat pilot; his personal relationships and related "drama" with authors Hawthorn and Longfellow, and ex-general and ex-president U.S. Grant, to name but a few. And his intense friendship and mentoree-ship with William Dean Howells. Etc.... On the other hand, who can say what features would be salient if we could have been a friend or associate of Samuel Clemens? The real-life mix might have been quite different from what any of us would imagine, and different from the version director Ken Burns has wrought. After I watched this DVD, I wished fervently that this could have been a 15-hour documentary. There is simply so much to say. And some of the dramatic renditions of Twains writings-- presented as snippets here and there-- would have made important and powerful contributions had they been presented in their entirety. Burns did an admirable job given the limited time available. This production is not quite the sweeping and definitive statement his earlier "Civil War" series was; but the topic is no less important. To paraphrase Burns, and Twain, a study of Twain the man and author is to study America herself. As Twain said, he wasn't AN American, he was THE American. The hundreds of never before seen photos add a thrilling and haunting dimensional peek into our history. The onscreen remarks of actor Hal Holbrook and playwrite Arthur Miller are profoundly meaningful. The remarks of the other "Twain scholars" are mixed. All made valuable contributions, although one of the guys seemed a little dissociated and sterile at times. Imagine trying to cram a man like Mark Twain into some modern psychological theory-du-jour! Can't be done; shouldn't be tried. So, enjoy this important DVD. And continue to read collections of Twains letters, journals, and his stories. Watch all the other rich sources of insights into this amazing force of Nature, and don't be afraid to form your own conclusions, perhaps not cast, as this DVD occasionally was, in the PC zeitgeist of our current age.

To be sure, I am a student of literature and a fan of Mark Twain, but I had no idea, none whatsoever(!), of what a rich and inspiring life he lived. He was a comic genius as well as a man devastated by continual heartbreak.
I have always known PBS to do a wonderful job with their specials, and I have admired Ken Burns since the day I first discovered his work on the women's movement i.e. the Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton story (highly recommended as well!)...but in their retelling of Mark Twain's life, these two forces have outdone themselves.
From now on I will always think of Samuel Clemens as an intrinsic part of what we call Americana. Forget baseball and apple pie, Twain and his writings are (or should be) the true American pastime.
I have watched many biographies of American authors but none come close to this, NONE. My favorite author of all time is F. Scott Fitzgerald and not one of his many audio visual biographies can touch the completeness and depth that has been carefully devoted here to Twain. In the 3+ hours of this presentation I laughed outloud, and was moved to tears, outraged, entertained, and educated by this telling of Twain's life. There is no way it could be better or more complete and I defy any lover of Twain, or literature in general, to feel differently.
Go to your local library and borrow it first, once you see it, you will insist upon owning it...truly.

I use this film every year in my American literature class to introduce my students to Mark Twain before they read Huckleberry Finn. My students stay glued to the television during the week that we watch the videos. I find it to be a far more effective introduction to Twain than I could ever give. And I love rewatching it every year. It never fails to make me tear up! This film brings Twain to life in a way that allows students to see him as a human being rather than as just another author to add to our list.

Around the turn of the last century, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was considered to be one of the funniest men in the world, and one of the greatest American writers and storytellers of his day. He achieved the status of a very rich man - only to lose it investing foolishly in some of the new inventions of the burgeoning industrial age.

His first great novel, Tom Sawyer, was an autobiographical tale of his life growing up on the banks of the Mississippi. The sequel and his most endearing work, Huckleberry Finn, written many years later, used the innocence of a ragged Southern boy traveling down the river with his friend, Nigger Joe, as a subtle indictment of slavery; Twain's motivation stemming from his disgust (as a Southerner) for the failure of emancipation several decades after the conclusion of the Civil War. In his later life, while still retaining his humor, Mark Twain became an outspoken opponent of racism, anti-Semitism, and American Imperialism (under Teddy Roosevelt) and an early advocate of women's suffrage.

Mark Twain was the first to use the way ordinary Americans spoke - to create great literature. His earliest career was as a riverboat pilot. His penname, Mark Twain, in fact, means "twelve feet," and when called out while steaming, signals the transition from dangerously shallow waters into those that are safe.

The movie is filled with great triumphs - and great sorrow. Watching the film caused me to careen uncontrollably between laughing and crying as though I were a drunkard. Anyone who loves writing (or reading) or spinning a few yarns of their own will come away knowing that Mark Twain - and Ken Burns, who lovingly restores him for us - are both geniuses!

At least as good as Burns' other, more heralded works, the concision and love with which Twain's life are here presented make this a true masterpiece. If your local library doesn't have it, make them get it; every school and library in the land should have this at the front of their dvd collection.

If ever there was doubt as to Twain's status as one of the finest and most quintessentially American of American artists, it is laid to rest here. A stunningly tragic life filled with triumphant humor and wisdom is given gorgeous tribute; the deep and almost transcendant love of the interviewees for Twain is especially striking.

Burns' pet technique of panning over still photos is tailor-made for this story and era. I'm not sure if it was thinking of my deep childhood love of Twain's books or just how moving his life was, but I found myself crying more during these four hours than any other movie I can recall. By the tenth deluge I had to laugh and realize that this is the best biographical film I have ever seen.

If you love Twain's writing, you will be amazed at the sadness he lived through while writing some of the funniest words ever penned. Even if you've never read any Twain, you will marvel at the life he lived, and the strength he showed in the face of one tragedy after another.

This is the American Spirit writ large. Not the bs version sold on tv, but the truly intelligent, open-hearted, adventurous, pioneering spirit that has become so rare.

If only we could find a man of this depth today and make him president.

I can almost hear Sam Clemens laughing at the thought right now...

Being still a young man, 21, I can vividly remember my high school days, and my hateful relationship with the "dreadfully boring" Huckleberry Finn.

Cue, years later, my revived interest in literature. I pick up a handful of Kurt Vonnegut's work and absolutely fall in love. I then see, in Palm Sunday, his essay on Twain. I figure, "If he likes him so, I should give the old guy another try."

And I did, and I couldn't have been more glad.

I picked up Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn one night and shot through them like a train through a piece of paper. A new admiration and intense respect was born.

I went on to pick up Yankee, Prince and Pudd'nhead, only to delve deeper into the genius that was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

This documentary is, by far, bar none, the greatest and most intimate documentary I've yet to see. You get the idea of what Twain was all about, be it a social critic, an absolutely devoted father, a quick tempered Missourian, or an eternally loving husband.

For all the absolute suffering that he went through, all people, be they great or seemingly miniscule, go through a great deal of suffering, but none in comparison seem to have gone through as much as Twain, the fact that he continued on joking and biting at politics the way he did is just astonishing.

I'd always been a bit hesitant to put my hands on anything by Burns, what with his reputation for being an over the top, boring, self gratifying pompous (fight censorship), but this was done with such finesse that all presumptions flew right out the window.

The excellent narration by Keith David need well be noted.

Now if only Burns would do documentaries on Thoreau and Faulkner.

Before I watched this DVD, I thought I was going to learn some biographical facts about Mark Twain with images, but I got a lot more. Mr. Burn's poetic touch to Mark Twain's life was like a marriage between art and the story of the greatest American writer. Mr. Burn's style of telling the story is very cinematic with well chosen sound tracks (a lot of good quality photos). It captivated me through out the whole 3 hour of it, which is divided into 2 parts.

The DVD also shows the commentaries and interpretations of Mark Twain's work by present American writers.

It can't be better!! I am also going to check out Mr. Burn's other works.

Mark Twain was a master story teller, and Ken Burns does him justice. As for the racial overtones, this is the man that wrote Huck Finn. There was a racial under current in everything then, and almost everything now. Some people are naive.