MARK TWAIN FILM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 193, 17 August 1939, Page 5

MARK TWAIN FILM.

ST. JAMES' ATTRACTION.

Dreamy days on the Mississippi, thrilling adventure, comedy and pathos, written as only Mark Twain could write them mark Mickey Rooney's first solo starring vehicle m "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." which opens at the St. •James Theatre to-morrow. Adventure a ? i.l ß^ ll " lore a dventure is the keynote ot this picture, which catches the full flavour of Mark Twain's whimsical kind° Ur 3 deep understanding of human

The son of a drunken sot, "Pap" Finn, Huckleberry is cared for by the Widow Douglass and her sister Miss Watson, who love the boy. They live in a small village " n the Mississippi in the days before the Civil War. The father of the boy, knowj,f e v 'jdow loves Huck, demands 800 dollars of her, threatening otherwise to take him away. To prevent sacrifice on her part Huck decides to run away leaving traces which Jook as if he has been murdered. Jim, a slave owned by the widow and a good friend of Huck's. is charged with the murder, but meanwhile he, too, has run away to avoid being sold by the widow in order to meet "Pap" Finn s demand of 800 dollars

Off down the river they go, down the Hood-swept Mississippi, racing away from the law and bloodhounds eager for the blood of Jim, stealing through darkened houses of mourning to rob the robbers of orphans' gold, rushing through raging warders to head off a lynch mob, meeting adventure after adventure until the film comes to its climatic ending.

The clever boy actor. Mickey Rooney, as Huck. is given the best opportunity for dramatic acting in his career and makes the most of it. There are al6o comedy touches such as when Mickey plays Juliet to Walter Connollv's Romeo in the famous Shakespearean play. An imporatnt member of the cast who does much to make this film what it is—one of the greatest— is Rex Ingram, who takes the part of the negro.