Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

John Cromwell

Writers:

Robert E. Sherwood (play)
Grover Jones (adaptation)

Release Date:

12 February 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Covers the period from Lincoln's early years as a Kentucky woodsman until his election to the Presidency in 1860...

Plot Keywords:

Woodsman | 1860s | Illinois | Territory Name In Title | Political Campaign

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Raymond Massey	...	Abraham Lincoln
Gene Lockhart	...	Stephen Douglas
Ruth Gordon	...	Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Howard	...	Ann Rutledge
Minor Watson	...	Joshua Speed
Harvey Stephens	...	Ninian Edwards
Alan Baxter	...	Billy Herndon
Howard Da Silva	...	Jack Armstrong (as Howard da Silva)
Dorothy Tree	...	Elizabeth Edwards
Aldrich Bowker	...	Judge Bowling Green
Maurice Murphy	...	John McNeil
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Mentor Graham
Clem Bevans	...	Ben Mattingly
Harlan Briggs	...	Denton Offut
Herbert Rudley	...	Seth Gale

Also Known As:

Spirit of the People (UK)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Spain:7 | USA:Approved (PCA #5619) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Eugene, Oregon, USA

Company:

Max Gordon Plays & Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Based on Robert E. Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When results for the 1860 election are being received, West Virginia is listed on the the state-by-state tally board. West Virginia didn't become a state until 1863, when it broke off from Virginia after that state had seceded from the Union.

Quotes:

Abraham Lincoln: [discussing why he can't face Mary Todd before his marriage to her] I'd have to tell her that I have hatred for her inferno ambition. That I don't want to be ridden and driven onward and upward through life with her whip bashing me and her spurs digging in me. If her poor little soul craves importance in life let her marry Stephen Douglas. He's ambitious too. I want only to be left alone.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Zelda, Get Off My Back (#2.17)" (1961)

Soundtrack:

Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness

The Lincoln Standard

Besides Raymond Massey, a whole flock of actors have been known for playing America's sixteenth president, Henry Fonda, Walter Huston, Sam Waterston, Hal Holbrook, Dennis Weaver, Gregory Peck, John Carradine. Character actor Frank McGlyn practically made a career of playing The Great Emancipator whenever Honest Abe was a character in a film. But the standard has been set by Raymond Massey who did Lincoln in Robert Sherwood's play for 472 performances on Broadway during the 1938-1939 season and he repeats the title role in Abe Lincoln in Illinois for this film version.

I've no doubt that Sherwood used as source material for his play a lot of information based on Carl Sandburg's biography, Lincoln the Prarie Years. At that time Sandburg was considered the unofficial custodian of the Lincoln legend and mythology. Of course he based a lot of his work on the biography of Lincoln written by his law partner William Herndon played here by Alan Baxter. Herndon's well known antipathy for Mary Todd Lincoln as the shrewish wife of his good friend comes through her in Ruth Gordon's portrayal. It should be said that Mary Lincoln regarded Herndon as an opportunist drunk and he certainly did have a substance abuse problem.

Gene Lockhart as Lincoln's rival Stephen A. Douglas is well done also, though Lockhart was a bit tall for the part. Had Douglas ever been elected president he would have been our shortest president, he was barely over five feet tall. The rivalry between these two was kind of like the Yankees and Red Sox with the Yankees always coming out on top until recent years. Lincoln is still our tallest president at 6'4" so the contrast on the speaking platform at the Lincoln-Douglas debates was really something to see.

The only other actor to recreate his stage role besides Massey was Howard DaSilva who played Jack Armstrong. Not the All American hero, but the leader of the local gang of roughnecks who Lincoln beat in a wrestling match and who becomes his lifelong friend. All part of the Lincoln legend carefully preserved by Sandburg and Sherwood. It was one of DaSilva's earliest screen roles.

Raymond Massey got an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1940 and he was up against a strong field that included Henry Fonda for The Grapes of Wrath, Charles Chaplin for The Great Dictator, and Laurence Olivier in Rebecca. The winner however was a long-shot, James Stewart for The Philadelphia Story. There was a lot of sentiment that year that Stewart should have received the Oscar the year before for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. So the good Academy voters made up for it this year. It goes that way with Oscar every so often.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois still holds up very well although today's historical Lincoln specialists might have different interpretations placed on some of the events you see.