The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)

(On Cable TV, August 2021) I tried staying interested in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I did. But as much as the original novel has become a respectable part of American culture (being old and a childhood favourite of previous generations), this adaptation is aiming to be as unremarkable as possible. It doesn’t do anything wrong: the period atmosphere is credibly re-created, and the film’s lavish colour cinematography clearly marks it as a prestige project for MGM and director Michael Curtiz. The Mississippi River remains an imposing presence, and the actors help tie the episodic nature of the novel into a coherent whole. On the other hand, well, the film feels perhaps more educational than entertaining — it’s there, it’s meant to translate the novel to the screen and it does exactly that. Enthusiasm is not necessarily supplied. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could have been worse, of course, but it’s not as if the result is gripping.