Main Cast: James Whitmore, Michele Mariana, Gary Krug, Chris Ritchie
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
Will Vinton, the stop-motion animation whiz who brought us The California Raisins, is the principal creative force behind The Adventures of Mark Twain. A clay-model Twain, voiced by James Whitmore, sets out in a hot-air balloon to find Halley's Comet. Joining the waspish humorist on his journey are some of his favorite creations, including Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huckleberry Finn. As the balloon ascends further into the sky, we are treated to animated dramatization of such Twain classics as "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Though brilliantly conceived and executed, Adventures of Mark Twain might have been even more effective had it been shortened by ten minutes or so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joan Grats - Animator, Will Vinton - Director, Kelly Baker - Editor, Michael Gall - Editor, Will Vinton - Editor, Billy Scream - Composer (Music Score), Susan Shadburne - Producer, Will Vinton - Producer, Joan C. Gratz - Set Designer, Don Merkt - Set Designer, Susan Shadburne - Screenwriter, Mark Twain - Book Author
The Adventures of Mark Twain, released in the UK as Comet Quest, is a 1985 stop motionanimated film directed by Will Vinton (best known for "The California Raisins" animation). It received a wider theatrical release, still limited to seven major cities, in January 1986. It was released on DVD in January 2006. The film features a series of vignettes extracted from several of Mark Twain's works, built around a plot that features Twain's attempts to keep his "appointment" with Halley's Comet. The concept was inspired by a famous quote by the author:
"I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'" (It is worth noting that Twain died one day after Halley's Comet appeared in 1910.)
