Mark Twain (2002)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Ken Burns
Written by Dayton Duncan & Geoffrey C. Ward
Voice Talent by Kevin Conway, Keith David

Features:

• A "making of" with Burns and Duncan
  
• Interview outtakes with Hal Holbrook, Arthur Miller, Russell Banks and others
  
• Mark Twain quotes and photographs
  
• "Ken Burns: Making History" – A behind the scenes look at how Burns makes his films
  
• "A Conversation with Ken Burns" – An intimate look into what inspires Burns
  

Anamorphic: N/A, appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Treasure It.

If there is one future regret that I’m sure I’ll have in later years, it is that Ken Burns won’t be around to make a documentary of his own life and works. He has established himself as the quintessential documentary filmmaker of our time with work like last year's massive Jazz program and 1994's documentary covering Baseball. Mark Twain proves no exception.

The film follows the life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens from birth, through his boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, his life as a riverboat captain, his worldly travels, then into his writings and celebrity, to his death and beyond. Through it all, Burns shows us the man that created Mark Twain. The documentary itself is presented in two parts on this double-sided DVD with the special features divided evenly on both sides. It is chocked full of some of the best Twain quotes and passages, including snippets from his personal writings. As with all of Burns’ documentaries, he is incredibly thorough in his research and it shows in every second of this one.

The DVD itself is a wonderful treatment of his documentary. The making-of shows us the process of how they put the seemingly unlimited amount of source material together and how they go about choosing the material that eventually gets cut. The interview outtakes show exactly how difficult the cutting process must have been, since all of the interview cuts are simply stunning. The Twain quotes and photographs are more of the quotes and photos that were cut from the documentary.

The section of the bonus material called "Ken Burns: Making History" is almost the same as the making-of, except that some of Burns’ other documentaries are mentioned. Perhaps the most outstanding section of this DVD is the interview with Burns himself. He talks all about what drives him to make these films, along with his view of history and why it should be much more important to our society than it is. History is much more than dates and locations to Burns. He is constantly trying to bring out the humanity in history. He refers to himself as an emotional archaeologist and rightly so.

This DVD should not be missed. Whether you are a fan of Twain's works or felt like you had to slog through the stuff in high school, it doesn't matter. This documentary should be on everyone’s DVD shelves.