by Linda Kay

Directed by: William Desmond Taylor

This review contains a Cat Corpse Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Faithful silent adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic novel in which the rambunctious Huckleberry Finn (Lewis Sargent) escapes from his complicated life by going on a journey by raft down the Mississippi accompanied by his friend Jim (George Reed), a runaway slave.

Kitty Cameo: At the beginning of the film we are introduced to several characters, including Tom Sawyer (Gordon Griffith) who is reading a pirate adventure book near his Aunt Polly (Edythe Chapman). The sleepy Aunt Polly is sitting in her chair with her knitting and a tabby and white cat resting on her lap.

The talkative little kitty lets out a couple of mews during his or her brief appearance, apparently not having been told this was a silent picture.

Cat Corpse: Much later in the film after Huck and Jim have hooked up with shyster actors The Duke (Orral Humphrey) and the King (Tom D. Bates), the latter pair plan to rip off a group of theater-goers and then take off with the money. Their escape comes none too soon, because the audience members, having already felt ripped off the day before, have brought an assortment of smelly and nasty items to throw at the thespians, one of which appears to be a deceased tabby cat. As strange as this may seem, it was not an uncommon practice for the time period in which the story is set to hurl deceased cats and other animals at those who were in disfavor with a crowd.

Final Mewsings: We definitely prefer live cats to dead ones on screen.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and X.