A Connecticut Yankee was the first of Will Rogers' four 1931 releases and easily the best; it was also the best of the three movie versions of the Mark Twain story. Clearly it is very much modernized and streamlined from Twain's original tale, but Rogers' humor is so akin to Twain's that it seems entirely appropriate. And despite the number of topical references and political gags, most of the humor retains its bite and doesn't seem dated. Rogers clearly is in his element and is the whole show. William Farnum hams it up magnificently as King Arthur, and Myrna Loy's seductive wiles are still quite potent. For a comedy, it is surprisingly grim in spots, with some quite violent torture chamber and execution scenes. Maureen O' Sullivan virtually goes through a dry run of the climaxes of several Tarzans, where she is awaiting execution but fortunately is preceded by a number of hapless natives (here, peasants) who provide the necessary time for help to arrive. It's an extremely handsome film even if much of the size is an illusion, achieved by some superb glass shots, (and) it moves quickly from incident to incident, constantly coming up with surprises... William K. Everson