Product Description

Mark Twain's America interweaves the life and times of Mark Twain with the lives of current day enthusiasts who revel in the inventions and way of life of the 19th century. Utilizing archival stereo-optic photos, powerful images from the past seemingly come alive in a larger-than-life presentation. Archival photos representative of Twain and what he saw and experienced in his time are juxtaposed against scenes of actual present day recreations of that era.

DVD Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97525 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-02-01
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 52 minutes

From The New Yorker
Stephen Low's diminutive 3-D documentary about our greatest humorist should be given credit for at least achieving an element of surprise: what other movie director has had the courage to hurl an author at his audience instead of an asteroid? The movie, which clocks in at just under an hour and uses nineteenth-century photography as well as scenes with contemporary Twain groupies to illustrate a selection of readings from some of the author's best-known works, is given a Southern-fried narration by an actor who apparently thinks that the bewhiskered man in the white suit is Colonel Sanders. Many of the stills-from a portrait of two black children with the aged look of prisoners to a shot of vagrant watermelon pickers eating their pay-uncomfortably invade your space. A close encounter with a champion jumping frog that can bound twenty feet almost makes the noseache from the Imax goggles worth it. -Jay Fielden
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

too short for a such a great subject
You really can't get into this movie. It's too short, and could have been more in depth.
That's not to say it's not interesting...I just wish it could have been longer, and I wish the producers would have taken better advantage of the IMAX techology...

A Disappointment
A the very start, of the narration, I could tell this was below average. The actor tells of a village on the banks of the Mississippi, Hannibal, "a little democracy which was full of liberty, equality, and the forth of July". Not a quote I would choose for accuracy, even if those were Twain's words. You have to imagine how former slaves recalled that village, however few slaves it had.

Speaking of the actor, his attempt to sound old got old right quick. I'd sooner hear more of Twain's words than his voice.

Many of the old photos seemed to have barely any connection to Mark Twain. For example, black and white children together on a donkey. I'm not convinced young Samuel ever saw that happen.

Some of the modern scenes were interesting, I have to say, but they don't save the final product. BTW, contrary to the editorial review, there is no scene selection.

I don't know why anyone, myself included, ever thought this was an IMAX subject. Never the Twain shall meet IMAX and mix well.

Most Pleased!
I had owned the 33 1/3 album ( Columbia Masterworks, the 1959 41st street Theater in NewY York) for many many years, gotten rid of all phonograph players and wanted to present this performance to the English classes at the school where I am the Library Media Specialist. Finding this wonderful DVD was most thrilling and became useful and appreciated.
Bill Stoll