Huckleberry Finn (1920)

• Director
  • William Desmond Taylor
• Writers
  • Julia Crawford Ivers(scenario)
  • Mark Twain(novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn")
• Stars
  • Lewis Sargent
  • Katherine Griffith
  • Martha Mattox

  There are no huge names attached to this silent version of the classic Mark Twain story (although director William Desmond Taylor would become famous a couple of years later when he was mysteriously murdered). But stars weren't necessary; everyone in America had read the book. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are played by youngsters Lewis Sargent and Gordon Griffith respectively, and they get able support from Paramount's solid troupe of actors, including Edythe Chapman as Aunt Polly and Katherine Griffith as the Widow Douglas. To fit the story on five reels, quite a lot has been left out, but the important stuff is there: Huck's escape from his brutal father (Frank Lanning), his travels with Tom and the escaped slave, Jim (George Reed), the Widow Douglas' attempts to rear him, and the ham actors (Orral Humphrey and Tom D. Bates). This was a companion piece to Tom Sawyer, which Paramount had released earlier, a tradition that was repeated in 1930, when both stories were released in sound version starring Jackie Coogan. In 1938, Tom Sawyer was remade once again, to be followed a year later by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (this time with Mickey Rooney as Huck).