IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020620/?ref_=nv_sr_3
IMDB rating: 5,9
Director: D. W. Griffith
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Una Merkel, William L. Thorne, Lucille La Verne, Jason Robards Sr., Kay Hammond
"As one of only two 'talkies' helmed by the godfather of American silent cinema, David Wark Griffith's Abraham Lincoln is by no means a conventionally good film; to be blunt, it qualifies as one of the most inept movies ever turned out by a craftsperson of Griffith's stature.
The script, credited to Stephen Vincent Benet, manages to include all the familiar high points, including Lincoln's tragic romance with Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel, allegedly cast because of her resemblance to Griffith favorite Lillian Gish), his lawyer days in Illinois, his contentious marriage to Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), his heartbreaking decision to declare war upon the South, his pardoning of a condemned sentry during the Civil War, and his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth (expansively portrayed by Ian Keith). This was D.W. Griffith's first talkie, and the master does his best with the somewhat pedantic dialogue sequences; but as always, Griffith's forte was spectacle and montage, as witness the cross-cut scenes of Yankees and Rebels marching off to war and the pulse-pounding ride of General Sheridan (Frank Campeau) through the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks to the wizardry of production designer William Cameron Menzies, many of the scenes appear far more elaborate than they really were; Menzies can also be credited with the unforgettable finale, as Honest Abe's Kentucky log cabin dissolves to the Lincoln Memorial. As Abraham Lincoln, Walter Huston is a tower of strength, making even the most florid of speeches sound human and credible; only during the protracted death scene of Ann Rutledge does Huston falter, and then the fault is as much Griffith's as his. Like Griffith's decision to cast the middle-aged Huston as teenage Lincoln in the story's opening act. With the actor buried beneath piles of makeup, he comes terribly close to resembling a Felliniesque drag queen - a sight that must be seen to be believed." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/abraham-lincoln-v641/
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