The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1960 American adventure drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. Based on the 1884 novel of the same name by Mark Twain, it was the third sound film version of the story and the second filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was the first adaptation of Huckleberry Finn to be filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor. It stars Eddie Hodges as Huck and former boxer Archie Moore as the runaway slave Jim. Tony Randall also appeared in the film (and received top billing), and Buster Keaton had a bit role in what proved to be his final film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, his former studio. Neville Brand portrayed Pap Finn, Huck's alcoholic father.

Some scenes in the film were shot on the Sacramento River, which doubled for the Mississippi River.

Plot

Set in the pre-Civil War American South, the story follows Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, a young boy living in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, along the Mississippi River. Huck has been taken in by the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, who aim to "sivilize" him by teaching him manners, religion, and education. Despite their efforts, Huck remains restless and dreams of living free from adult rules and the structure of society.

Huck's peace is disrupted when his alcoholic and abusive father, Pap Finn, returns to town. Having heard of Huck's wealth from a previous adventure, Pap demands custody of his son. The court, swayed by Pap's manipulations, grants him custody. Huck is taken to a remote cabin deep in the woods, where he is locked away and physically abused. Wanting to escape both his father and the constraints of civilization, Huck stages his own murder using a pig's blood and flees to Jackson's Island, an isolated stretch of land in the Mississippi River.

While hiding out on the island, Huck discovers Jim, Miss Watson's enslaved servant, who has also run away after learning he's to be sold to a plantation in the Deep South. At first, Huck is shocked. He has been raised to see helping a runaway slave as wrong. However, as they spend time together, Huck begins to view Jim not as property, but as a human being and a friend. Jim shares his plan to travel north, eventually to Cairo, Illinois, where he hopes to earn enough money to buy his family's freedom.

Huck and Jim construct a raft and begin their journey down the Mississippi River, seeking freedom and escape from their respective troubles. Along the way, they encounter both danger and deception, testing the strength of their bond and Huck's growing moral awareness.

One of their early adventures occurs when they come across a house floating in the river. Inside, they find a dead body. Jim refuses to let Huck look at the face, claiming it's too gruesome. Later, it is revealed that the body was Pap Finn's, although Jim keeps this from Huck to protect him.

Further downriver, they meet two men on the run: a pair of confidence tricksters who claim to be a displaced English duke and the long-lost French king. Though Huck recognizes them as frauds, he and Jim allow them to stay aboard the raft to avoid trouble. The conmen's schemes grow more elaborate and dangerous as they stop in various towns to perform fake Shakespearean plays and swindle money from grieving families.

Their most elaborate scam takes place when they pretend to be the long-lost brothers of Peter Wilks, a recently deceased man who left behind a fortune. The town initially believes their story, but Huck, moved by the kindness of Wilks's nieces—Mary Jane, Joanna, and Susan—secretly hides the money the conmen plan to steal. The arrival of the real brothers leads to the exposure of the frauds, and the duke and the king barely escape from an angry mob.

Soon after, the conmen betray Huck and Jim by selling Jim to the Phelps family, claiming he is a runaway slave in exchange for a reward. The Phelpses, who turn out to be relatives of Huck's friend Tom Sawyer, intend to return Jim to his owner. Huck now faces a moral crisis. Although society has taught him that helping a slave escape is wrong, he cannot abandon his friend.

Determined to rescue Jim, Huck devises a plan. He disguises himself and sneaks onto the Phelps property, where Jim is locked in a shed. After writing a letter to Miss Watson revealing Jim's location, Huck has a moral epiphany. He tears up the letter and decides, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"—choosing to help Jim rather than conform to society's racist values.

Meanwhile, the king and duke get into trouble once again and are captured after trying to run another scam. With their arrest providing a diversion, Huck manages to free Jim, and the two escape back to the raft.

Later, Jim reveals that the dead man in the floating house was Pap Finn—meaning Huck is now free from his abusive father. They also learn that Miss Watson had died and, in her will, granted Jim his freedom. Though their journey was dangerous and at times unnecessary in a legal sense, it was deeply transformative.

Jim continues north to find his family, and Huck, rejecting the idea of returning to civilization and being "sivilized" again, decides to "light out for the Territory" in search of freedom and adventure.

Cast

Eddie Hodges as Huckleberry Finn

Archie Moore as Jim

Tony Randall as The King of France

Patty McCormack as Joanna Wilkes

Neville Brand as Pap Finn

Mickey Shaughnessy as The Duke

Judy Canova as Sheriff's Wife

Andy Devine as Mr. Carmody

Sherry Jackson as Mary Jane Wilkes

Buster Keaton as Lion Tamer

Finlay Currie as Capt. Sellers

Josephine Hutchinson as Widow Douglas

Sterling Holloway as the Barber

Parley Baer as Grangeford Man

John Carradine as Slave Catcher

Royal Dano as Sheriff of Harlan

Dean Stanton as Slave Catcher

Dolores Hawkins as Riverboat Singer

Music

Jerome Moross composed the score. MGM had intended the film to be a musical. Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner wrote songs which were not used in their entirety, but which Moross incorporated into the score as source (diegetic) music.

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,950,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $800,000 elsewhere, resulting in a net loss of $99,000.

Comic book adaptation

Dell Four Color #1114 (July 1960)

See also

List of films featuring slavery

References

External links

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at IMDb

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films