Mr North
T. Theopholis North (Anthony Edwards) is an aspiring adventurer making  do as a tutor and reader to the upper-crust in 1920s Newport, Rhode Island, in  Danny Huston's enchanting if rough-edged adaptation of Thornton Wilder'scomic novel. Equally at home with  the rich (Robert Mitchum's blustery but big-hearted philosopher millionaire) and  the poor (butler and all-around-town character Harry Dean Stanton), the young  man with an electric personality (literally) becomes a liberator, a matchmaker,  a reluctant faith healer, and a tonic for a community in the thrall of  charlatans. Huston, son of the great John Huston (who helped script the film),  is not a deft filmmaker, but he has a welcoming warmth and a contagious  affection for his colorful characters. If his cast (which includes Lauren  Bacall, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Anjelica Huston, Danny's sister) tends to  overplay their parts, it's in the genial spirit of this lighthearted lark.--Sean Axmaker