Huckleberry Finn and His Friends

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends

German DVD cover; from left to right: Tom Sawyer (Sammy Snyders), Huck Finn (Ian Tracey)
Starring Ian Tracey
Sam Snyders
Blu Mankuma
Brigitte Horney
Country of origin British Columbia, Canada
No. of episodes 26
Production
Running time 25 minutes approx.
Release
Original release 1979

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends was a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, based on the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American writer Mark Twain. The series was made up of 26 episodes and was a Canadian/German coproduction.

Huckleberry Finn is played by Ian Tracey, who is also the narrator. Tom Sawyer is played by Sammy Snyders and the part of Aunt Polly by the German actress Brigitte Horney.

Directed by Jack B. Hively and Ken Jubenvill, this mini-series was broadcast in many countries such as Germany, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela and many other Latin American nations. The series was re-shown many times during the 1980s to early 1990s and has grown somewhat of a cult following.

Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as separate units, this mini-series conjures up both literary works as only one story. Therefore, it places greater importance on Huckleberry's character without putting aside Tom Sawyer's.

In 2007, the complete series was released as a 4 DVD box set by Fabulous Films in the UK. It contains many extras including a 12-page color booklet and a 30-minute 'making of' documentary featuring interviews with many stars of the series including Sammy Snyders, Ian Tracey, and Blu Mankuma.

Episodes

  1. Welcome neighbour
  2. Love in bloom
  3. Engagement
  4. Mystery at midnight
  5. The Pirates
  6. How nice to be missed
  7. Such a lovely funeral
  8. Muff Potter's trial
  9. Buried treasure
  10. Huck is a hero
  11. Millionaires
  12. I want to be free
  13. Huck becomes the victim
  14. Huck gets away
  15. Huck finds Jim
  16. The rains come
  17. Smallpox
  18. Meet the Grangerfords
  19. The thing about feuding
  20. The end of the feud
  21. Meet the Duke and Dauphin
  22. Romeo where art thou
  23. Jim disappears
  24. Huck Sawyer - Tom Finn
  25. The rescue
  26. The whole truth.

Production

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends was filmed on location at the Burnaby Village Museum (then known as the Heritage Village) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.[1] Episode 9 - Buried treasure - was filmed in part at the Alaksen National Wildlife Area.[1]

Sternwheelers

The wooden steam-powered sternwheeler in episode 6 - How nice to be missed - and 7 - Such a lovely funeral - is the "Samson V".[2] The "Samson V" is now a museum but at the time (1979) was a working snagpuller on the Fraser River. The small sternwheeler in episode 10 - Huck is a hero - was one of an identical pair of boats built in 1964 that ferried tourists around Vancouver's harbour from the 1960s to the 1980s.[3] From the late 1980s until 1999, the "Scenic Bell" and the "Scenic Queen" ferried passengers to Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 End credits
  2. ↑ Samson V Maritime Museum website
  3. ↑ Vessel Registration. Transport Canada
  4. ↑ Valerie Wilson, "Nanaimo's last stern-wheeler bound for New York", Nanaimo Daily News, May 7, 1999, page A1
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