It was the 1980s and every holiday season, school would get out on the Friday before Christmas, which meant I'd spend the next 2 weeks with my grandparents while my mom was at work. My grandfather, a computer engineer (read as: middle class hacker), would pirate movies with his coworkers in their downtime. As soon as I arrived to their house, he'd hand me a box filled with VHS tapes, with titles written heiroglyphically on masking tape, plastered to the sides of them. I'd look into the box, see all the tapes, and look up at him, BEAMING with joy. The first film I plucked from the box: The Adventures of Mark Twain.
For those who've never seen it, it's the tale of the famed American writer, Mark Twain, coming to the decision that humanity is utterly irredeemable, and so he plans his death by meeting up with Halley's Comet, while some of his most famous literary creations aim to convince him otherwise.
One of the best scenes is where Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher are at a special machine, viewing the various tales that have come from the depths of Twain's own mind. At one point, they land on 'The Mysterious Stranger'; a tale that Twain never actually finished, but featured a character he called both "Satan" and "No. 44".
My pirated copy of this tape found its way over to my friend Lindsey's house, which was just 3 doors down. Her mother ooohed and ahhhed over the tape, curiously praising Twain's literary legacy as "wholesome" and "exemplary of "traditional Christian values."
Obviously, having never actually read any of his work, she was quite disturbed when, one day, after I'd left the tape at their house, Lindsey's mother declared a family movie night. As the movie went on, she proceeded to get more and more uncomfortable, finally ejecting the tape after the scene described above. I wasn't allowed to play at their house after that due to my new "child of Satan" status. My grandpa just laughed. Frankly, so will you after you watch this awesome film!
The artistry of the claymation figures is just wonderful, the story is thought provoking and poignant, and despite all the dark content, it's a great movie to watch with your kids ... or you can just send them off to your parent's place, pour a drink and smoke hashish, and enjoy it. It is your winter time holiday.
You can watch the full movie here while it's available.