Mr. North

Story

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's comic 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

DVD Features

• Color
• Closed-captioned
• Widescreen

Cast

Anjelica Huston
Harry Dean Stanton
Mary Stuart Masterson
Lauren Bacall
Virginia Madsen
Robert Mitchum
David Warner
Anthony Edwards
Hunter Carson