Abraham Lincoln (1930)

An episodic biography of the 16th President of the United States.

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

John W. Considine Jr. (story), Stephen Vincent Benet (adaptation),

Stars:

William L. Thorne, Lucille La Verne, Walter Huston

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William L. Thorne	...	Tom Lincoln (as W.L. Thorne)
Lucille La Verne	...	Mid-Wife
Helen Freeman	...	Nancy Hanks Lincoln
Otto Hoffman	...	Offut
Walter Huston	...	Abraham Lincoln
Edgar Dearing	...	Jack Armstrong (as Edgar Deering)
Una Merkel	...	Ann Rutledge
Russell Simpson	...	Uncle Jimmy--Lincoln's Employer
Charles Crockett	...	Sheriff
Kay Hammond	...	Mary Todd Lincoln
Helen Ware	...	Mrs. Edwards
E. Alyn Warren	...	Stephen A. Douglas / Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Billy Herndon (as Jason Robards)
Gordon Thorpe	...	Tad Lincoln
Ian Keith	...	John Wilkes Booth

Storyline

Brief vignettes about Lincoln's early life include his birth, early jobs, (unsubstantiated) affair with Ann Rutledge, courtship of Mary Todd, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates; his presidency and the Civil War are followed in somewhat more detail, though without actual battle scenes; film concludes with the assassination.

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Plot Keywords:

president | assassination | civil war | courtship | debate | 

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Taglines:

The wonder film of the century, about the most romantic figure who ever lived!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

D.W. Griffith's 'Abraham Lincoln'

Company Credits

Production Co:

D.W. Griffith Productions, Feature Productions, Joseph Schenck Presents

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 90 min (TCM print) 96 min (copyright length)

Sound Mix:

Mono (MovieTone)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The line Lincoln speaks about how during Reconstruction he will treat the Southern states "as if they had never been away" was recycled from D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," in which it was "spoken" as a title by actor (and future director) Joseph Henabery as Lincoln.

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Goofs

When Lincoln is filling out his ticket for his luggage on the train trip to Washington, the familiar signature of ALincoln, which is familiar to audiences, is in an entirely different writing style that the destination of Washington.

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Quotes

Offut: There he is! Ugliest, laziest, smartest man in New Salem. Ain't ya, Abe?
Abraham Lincoln: Well, I don't mind my face; I'm behind it. It's the people in front that get jarred.

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Connections

Featured in A Century of Cinema (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Yankee Doodle"
(ca. 1755) (uncredited)
Traditional music of English origin
Played by a marching band during an election

User Reviews

"The Most Romantic Figure Who Ever Lived????"

Before writing this review I saw that publicity driven line about this film. Abraham Lincoln is a lot of things, but NOBODY ever accused him of being a great romantic. All I can say there is, Huh?

Abraham Lincoln is one of two sound films made by movie pioneer, David W. Griffith. It's also something of an atonement for Griffith who was accused fostering racism with his masterpiece silent work, The Birth of a Nation.

Maybe if Abraham Lincoln had been a better film it would have succeeded in being an atonement. It certainly had one of the best interpreters of Lincoln ever in Walter Huston. The film also in many ways looks like a newsreel of the Civil War era. Our image of that era and you can see it in Ken Burns documentary comes from Matthew Brady's still photographs. In crafting this and The Birth of a Nation, Griffith was heavily influenced by Brady's still photographs.

Lincoln's prarie years were better told in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and Young Mr. Lincoln. Griffith should have stuck to the war years and made it in fact the Lincoln family story. One thing that would have done is eliminated Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge. Una Merkel had many a good role as a wisecracking dame in modern films. But in Abraham Lincoln she's just awful as Lincoln's lost love Ann Rutledge. It's a miracle she had a career after this film and a good one.