THE WONDER FILM OF THE CENTURY, ABOUT THE MOST ROMANTIC FIGURE WHO EVER LIVED!
D.W. Griffith’s first talkie came late in his career, received some praise at the time but is largely forgotten now. We follow the life of the 16th President, from his birth in that famed log cabin right through his presidency, ending with his assassination in 1865. This story has far too much drama to be covered satisfactorily in a 97-minute film; shallow and episodic, it focuses most of all on how Lincoln took charge of the Civil War. Co-writer Stephen Vincent Benet was a poet, but fails to bring much lyricism to the script. Still, a fairly compelling, traditional heroic tale, boosted by Walter Huston’s lead performance.
1930-U.S. 97 min. B/W. Directed by D.W. Griffith. Screenplay: Stephen Vincent Benet, John W. Considine, Jr., Gerrit J. Lloyd. Cast: Walter Huston (Abraham Lincoln), Una Merkel (Mary Todd Lincoln), Edgar Dearing (Jack Armstrong), Russell Simpson, Cameron Prud’homme, Oscar Apfel.
