Product Details

• Actors: Hal Holbrook
• Directors: Paul Bogart
• Writers: Hal Holbrook, Mark Twain
• Producers: David Susskind, Don Silverman
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kultur Video
• VHS Release Date: April 27, 1999
• Run Time: 78 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000IPGJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,355 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hal Holbrook-Mark Twain Tonight, April 30, 2000

By 

Mark Marcus (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mark Twain Tonight (DVD)

Having seen Hal Holbrook perform live in Mark Twain Tonight, I was delighted to aquire the DVD of his 1967 television broadcast performance. I have long believed, and this DVD confirms that Mark Twain Tonight is easily one of the greatest treasures of the American stage in the last half of the 20th Century. That Mr. Holbrook has performed Mark Twain every year since 1954, in over 2000 shows, is nothing short of miraculous. This 90 minute performance brings the wisdom, humor and humanity of one of the most morally insightful men of the 19th century to life. His words continue to be as hilarious, poignant and relevent in the 21st century as they were in his own time.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thirty Years in the Making, November 24, 1999

By 

Fred Halwe (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark Twain Tonight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In 1967, I was a twenty-ish high school English teacher who sat down one evening, out of a sense of professional obligation, to watch a TV production of some guy named Hal Holbrook doing a one-man show called MARK TWAIN TONIGHT. It blew me away (though we didn't talk like that in 1967). Ever since, I've had a blank videotape sitting atop my TV, waiting to pirate a copy of the certain re-broadcast, whenever the industry moguls ran out of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND reruns. Of course, it never happened! Instead, I paid cash money for the 33-rpm record, and scratched my way to this or that band for partly appreciative teen English students. As always, the trick to life is to keep living. Today I blew the dust off my 30 year-old videotape and set it aside. My review is thirty years in the making. All you young English teachers, take note: on a scale of one-to-five stars, this performance of Mr. Holbrook is a six. Maybe seven!

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holbrook's Mark Twain, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mark Twain Tonight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If there has ever been a polished performance, this is it! I've been fortunate to see Holbrook do this show live on three occasions. He really catches the essence of Twain's marvellous story- telling, which sets the tone for later artists such as Gene Shepard and Garrison Keillor. Hal Holbrook changed his show at every performance, and this video features him at the peak of his craft. From ghost stories to humorous anecdotes to shaggy dog yarns and tall tales, this video has them all. You'll want to watch it many times.