Will Vinton’s “The Adventures of Mark Twain” (1985) is the one movie to be made totally in Vinton’s patented “Claymation” approach and stays a one-of-a-kind animated movie.
Vinton was already an Oscar winner for his quick movies. “Closed Monday” was Vinton’s breakthrough in 1974, an 8-minute stunner that resulted within the first Oscar ever given to a stop-motion animated work.
By the Nineteen Eighties, Vinton was constructing a popularity in its place animator within the age of Disney and Saturday morning cartoons. This film, his solely function movie, was a years-in-the-making showstopper that was supposed to revolutionize his stop-motion brilliance to the mainstream.
Whereas the movie wound up a field workplace flop and Vinton’s large industrial breakthrough got here after (extra on that in a second), “The Adventures of Mark Twain” stays a little-seen however staggering discovery for lovers of unconventional animation.
It begins with a title card, reminding us of the arrival of Haley’s Comet, as soon as a preferred subject within the early Nineteen Eighties (the comet returns in 2061). The marvel begins instantly, because the movie is merely two minutes previous, and we get the picture of a ebook opening and the pages pouring into liquid visions that symbolize Twain’s huge creativeness.
As soon as we settle into the sci-fi trappings and the odd fusion of semi-steampunk and Twain tales, the restrictions and potentialities of Vinton’s approach are in plain sight. Whereas the characters all kind of resemble cumbersome motion figures, the facial expressions are wonderful.
Vinton’s movie presents a loving ode to each Twain and his works, albeit in a sci-fi presentation. Twain is depicted as each writer and the captain of the huge airship. Huckleberry Finn, Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer all sneak aboard, because the airship ascends into the cosmos.
Twain hopes to immerse himself with the comet and kills time by telling the trio a few of his best-known tales (none of which function Tom, Huck or Becky, however are depictions from a few of Twain’s most well-known quick tales).
As a conceptual fantasy supposed to introduce audiences to Twain’s wit and storytelling, the idea is enjoyable. I can envision comparable movies with this novelty. How a few haunted Stephen King locomotive or a Michael Crichton Island?
Vinton’s landmark movie works for each Twain fans or anybody prepared to be mesmerized by animation at a time when by-the-numbers kiddie fodder dominated the sector. The exceptions? Don Bluth’s 1982 “The Secret of NIMH” and Ralph Bakshi’s output).
That is pre-Aardman Animation, enjoying in theaters the identical yr that Disney produced its infamous, drained flop, “The Black Cauldron.” Vinton was among the many much less mainstream innovators (similar to Adam Elliot of “Memoir of a Snail” and Invoice Plympton of “The Tune”) who had been avoiding protected, cookie-cutter work and making animation that was private, threat taking and defiantly completely different.
As a celebration of all issues Twain, it’s value mentioning that there’s no Jim, nor the rest right here that courts controversy (Jim’s absence is comprehensible, although Twain completists may see that as a missed alternative).
Along with the frequent Twain quotes (similar to “I turned a author…I haven’t labored a day since”), the vignettes that break up the story are humorous and unusual. The “Adam and Eve” sequence (which Vinton reportedly made first, with the intention to create an idea for the movie round it) is wondrous, significantly in its depiction of God creating Earth and offering commentary.
(“That is good…that is cute…”)
Whereas the Adam and Eve sequence goes on too lengthy and the satire is limp and dated, the approach remains to be gorgeous. The entire movie is like this – even when the segments inside the principle story differ in sustaining curiosity, Vinton’s wizardry at making expressive performances and environments from clay is at all times fascinating.
Lots of the photos are poetic, similar to Adam first seeing Eve’s reflection in a pond. There are some jarring tonal shifts, such because the melancholy bit the place Twain is noticed enjoying a pipe organ whereas tortured faces present solemn accompaniment.
There’s additionally the eerie “Mysterious Stranger” sequence, a precursor to the still-wow inducing character work Vinton supplied the magnificent “Return to Oz” (additionally in 1985).
There are surprisingly deep moments to be discovered, similar to Twain ranting in a large room containing stacks of his works. “The Adventures of Mark Twain” is episodic and jarring at instances. But, even when the story loses momentum, the animation at all times amazes, and the brilliance of Vinton’s approach retains it from capsizing.
Launched by Funhouse Footage however barely making a mark upon launch (I bear in mind the trailer however couldn’t discover the film enjoying wherever throughout its authentic run), Vinton’s biggest successes got here after.
Whereas “The Adventures of Mark Twain” was ultimately found by frequent airings on The Disney Channel, Vinton’s TV ads for “The California Raisins,” contribution to Michael Jackson’s “Velocity Demon” music video (1989) and three seasons of the Eddie Murphy-led “The PJ’s” (1999-2001) are his most well-known accomplishments.
“The Adventures of Mark Twain” showcases the potential Vinton at all times knew was in his trademarked Claymation, shaping unusual and lovely visions that provide dazzling, lifelike or dreamlike (or nightmarish) reflections of life, cast in clay.