# The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Climax!)

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a 1955 CBS TV film adaptation of Mark Twain's 1884 novel of the same name, starring Charles Taylor in the title role. It was directed by Herbert B. Swope Jr. It aired on September 1, 1955 as the Season 2 premiere of the anthology program Climax!.

## Cast

The following actors received screen credit for their performances:
* Thomas Mitchell as Old Man Finn
* Elizabeth Patterson as Aunt Polly
* John Carradine as The Duke
* Walter Catlett as The Dauphin
* Charles Taylor as Huck Finn
* Minor Watson as Judge Thatcher
* Bobby Hyatt as Tom Sawyer
* Denise Alexander as Mary Jane Wilks
* Katharine Warren as Widow Douglas
* Saul Gorss as Injun Joe
William Lundigan hosted the broadcast.

## Production

Martin Manulis was the producer and Herbert Swope Jr. the director. The teleplay was adapted for Climax! by DeWitt Bodeen based on the novel by Mark Twain. Robert Tyler Lee and Albert Heschong provided the art direction.

## Plot

Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are digging for treasure in a cave along the Mississippi River. Just as they discover a chest full of gold, Injun Joe leaps out of the shadows, attempting to kill them, but he falls into a watery pit. Huck notes the abyss is "so deep it goes 'most to China" and Tom assures him Injun Joe will "never bother us no more." To celebrate, Tom and Huck become blood-brothers by nicking their thumbs with Tom's pocketknife and pressing their thumbs together. Tom and Huck smoke their corncob pipes and daydream about the lives of leisure they will enjoy now they are rich. But instead, Huck ends up adopted by the Widow Douglas, who conspires with Tom's Aunt Polly to turn the newly wealthy boys into proper gentlemen. The Widow Douglas introduces Huck to Mary Jane Wilkes, Aunt Polly's visiting niece, whom Aunt Polly and Tom will soon be accompanying on her journey back down river. Mary Jane suggests the Widow and Huck also come along on the trip. Tom warns Huck that Huck's wandering, drunken father has come back to town after erroneously having been presumed drowned. Shortly afterward, Huck is visited by his father who threatens him if he doesn't give up his fortune. When Huck tells his father Judge Thatcher has control of his money, Huck's father kidnaps him and spirits him away to a shabby cabin where he torments and beats Huck. Tom pays a visit to the cabin while Huck's father is away and helps engineer Huck's escape. Using a raft Tom has provided, Huck makes a getaway and soon encounters a pair of con men—the Duke and the Dauphin—on the run from the law. Huck realizes they are planning to travel to the Wilkes homestead and trick Mary Jane into giving them her late father's fortune by pretending to be her uncles. Huck slips away from the pair, hoping to beat them to the estate and warn Mary Jane, but his father suddenly appears and chains him up in an abandoned steamship. Once Huck's father disappears, Tom shows up and frees Huck; the two hurry to the Wilkes' place. Unfortunately, the Duke and the Dauphin have managed to convince Mary Jane they're her relatives and when Tom and Huck try to expose them, the Duke and Dauphin try to take Huck and Tom to the constabulary. Their plan is foiled when Judge Thatcher turns up and arrests the crooks. Huck returns the stolen gold to Mary Jane and she kisses him, telling him he's her "guardian angel." Flustered, Huck rushes off to his raft, telling Tom and the Judge he's heading west. Tom tries to stop him by telling him his father's body was found floating in the river. Huck departs nevertheless, assuring Tom and the Judge that he'll be back.