Arguably the best screen adaptation of Mark Twain’s stories, this Canadian/West German production starred Ian Tracey as Huck Finn and Sammy Snyders as Tom Sawyer. The young actors are both superb, and the supporting cast is of the same stellar quality.
Huckleberry Finn and His Friends does a tremendous job of adapting Twain’s stories into a cohesive and logical narrative, and the beautiful Canadian location filming and haunting musical soundtrack add to the period authenticity.
For a children’s series, some episodes are unusually dark and gritty, particularly those involving Injun Joe (Alex Diakun) and the scenes where an entire family is wiped out in a violent gun battle while Huck can only look on and watch.
Huckleberry Finn
Ian Tracey Tom Sawyer
Sammy Snyders Aunt Polly
Brigitte Horney Sid
Bernie Coulson Jim
Blu Mankuma Constable
Gunnar Möller Judge Thatcher
Barney O’Sullivan Aunt Sally
Dinah Hinz Injun Joe
Alex Diakun Joe Harper
Dale Walters Becky Thatcher
Holly Findlay Pard
John Curtis Ben Rogers
Brad Sakiyama Widow Douglas
Lillian Carlson Miss Watson
Cathryn Johnston
