Director: Ken Burns

I have never read a Mark Twain novel in its entirety, though many are very well known - “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Prince and the Pauper” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” immediately come to mind. So why would I want to review a 200-minute biographical documentary of Samuel Clemens (otherwise known as Mark Twain)?

One reason is because the series is directed by Ken Burns - whom I consider the greatest documentary-maker of our times. The other reason is because Sam Clemens was such an amazing character - watching one episode on TV earlier this year prompted me to find out more about this fascinating fellow.

With meticulous concern for accuracy, and containing numerous hilarious anecdotes from Twain, this documentary explores the life of Clemens from his birth. Ken Burns is the man responsible for such documentaries as “Baseball”, “Lewis and Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery”, “Jazz” and his crowning achievement ” The Civil War” an epic documentary about the American Civil War of the 1860s, made in 1990. His documentary style involves the blending of historical information with archival film and photos, original music and anecdotal reminiscences narrated by professional actors to recreate the time setting and draw the viewer more deeply into the subjects in question. As the BBC and Channel 4 (aka Granada) are the undisputed masters of the British documentary, so Ken Burns is to American documentaries. He has the additional ability of being able to expand the retelling of a person or persons’ life over a longer duration than most others in his field - what some may adequately portray in 55 minutes, he can deliver over three or four episodes without losing the viewer’s craving for more! And so it is with this four part series.

Samuel Clemens, coincidentally, was born in the year of a visit by Halley’s Comet (”I was born modest, but it didn’t last”), and died in the year of the comet’s next visit. He led a diverse life as a `cub’ journalist, riverboat captain, travel correspondent and finally as the writer we all know. His fame (and occasional his occupation) took him to all parts of the world (including Australia and many of its regional centres). He was the first American writer to gain international fame and notoriety - indeed, to create an American `identity’. Yet disappointment, financial incompetence and personal tragedy were to dog him throughout his lifetime.

But his biting (at times nasty and sarcastic) wit was at the fore - at least in public - for most of the time. Consider one of his `facts’ of life - “Familiarity breeds contempt - and children”. In failing health he produced a public manifesto of his own self-discipline, promising - amongst other things - to limit his cigar smoking to one at a time, and never to smoke when asleep.

Many people would be interested in the origin of the pen name “Mark Twain”, and I’d love to tell you how it came to be.

But then again, maybe I shouldn’t.!

This is yet another wonderful example of documentary as a work of art. The character remains `alive’ throughout the series - one can at times `live’ in the setting that we are viewing. The music is never intrusive, the commentary never overbearing, and the viewer is constantly on tenterhooks - awaiting the next `pearl of wisdom’ from Clements as Twain.

240 mins approx with extras.

THE EXTRAS

There are two documentaries accompanying this series, exclusive to the DVD:

“Ken Burns: Making History” - a 7-minute interview with Burns about his philosophy of filmmaking (interestingly he says films - not documentaries). For the degree of maturity and wisdom he displays, he looks so frightfully young!

“The Making of Mark Twain” - a 20-minute documentary of two parts: the first part is a chat with Ken Burns about Mark Twain, the man. This is most interesting in that this is the first `opinionated’ discussion of the Twain character encountered in this package - it is revealing in itself, and as such, is a revelation. The second part is an interview with Dayton Duncan (the producer and co-writer) about the making of the series.

CONCLUSION

This is yet another wonderful example of documentary as a work of art. Ken Burns delivers yet another masterpiece in the detailed telling of the life of Samuel Clemens, better known as the author “Mark Twain”.