A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
by Bernard McConville, directed by Emmett J. Flynn
We may never see this first movie adaptation of Twain’s story, since only three of the
eight silent reels are known to still exist. The Yankee in this version is Martin
Cavendish, who after reading Twain’s book, is knocked on the head by a burglar and
slips into the time of Camelot. The result is high comedy coupled with a romantic
interest and replete with motorcycles, explosions, Model T Fords, telephones, indoor
plumbing, and lassos at a jousting tournament. As we did for Twain’s
original, we classify the story as science fiction for the Yankee’s attempts at
bringing modern technology to the distant past. And yes, the hero predicts a solar
eclipse to save his life.
One review at Silent Hollywood indicates that the ending has Martin awakening from a dream and there is no explicit mention of actual time travel. With this in mind, we’re marking the time travel as debatable. Oh, and Mark Twain himself appears in the film, played by Karl Formes.
— Michael Main
All this nobility stuff is bunk.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Bernard McConville, directed by Emmett J. Flynn (at movie theaters, USA, 14 March
1921).