Such a frustrating disappointment

hyped garbage

Excellent but underrated film

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I saw the film on Turner Classics and while knowing it was a talking picture the opening minutes provided some doubt as it went on for a while with no dialog to go with the captioning that I always enable. Eventually sound kicked in at about the point a midwife exclaimed that Mrs. Lincoln's newborn was 'homely as a mud fence'. There was no reaction from the mother who apparently hadn't seen him yet.I wasn't prepared for the significant gaps in the life of Abraham Lincoln, although for a film made in 1930 I didn't really know what to expect. We go from Lincoln's birth almost immediately to his employment as a young man in a general store. The rest of the picture follows the same format, making chronological jumps of years at a time.Having seen D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" almost a decade ago now, my curiosity was piqued when the approach taken here appeared to be significantly patriotic and anti-slavery. The latter part of the earlier silent film seemed to take a rather apologetic approach to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. This picture consistently emphasizes Lincoln's determination to keep the Union together before, during and after the Civil War. The scenarios offered showing Lincoln during the War were by far the best part of the film.One interesting thing director Griffith did was show Lincoln (Walter Huston) pardoning a soldier for cowardice after learning the circumstances of the young soldier's fear (he witnessed a boyhood acquaintance killed in battle). Shortly later, a scene with General Robert E. Lee (Hobart Bosworth) suggested similar compassion when he intervened to save the life of a Northern spy with the War close to an end. I thought the portrayal of this human element on opposing sides of the War was handled rather well.Having introduced the character of John Wilkes Booth (Ian Keith) early in the story as a dedicated pro-slavery anti-abolitionist, it was to be expected that he appear again for his role at Ford's Theater. The actual scene of Lincoln's assassination was handled rather awkwardly, so it was just as well that the picture didn't dwell on it or the resulting aftermath. As I read other reviewer comments about the picture, I'd have to concur that 'Glory, Glory Hallelujah" was a fitting way to conclude the movie.

Brief vignettes about Lincoln's early life.Includes his birth, early jobs, (unsubstantiated) affair with Ann Rutledge, courtship of Mary Todd, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates.Onward to his presidency and the Civil War are followed in somewhat more detail, though without actual battle scenes.The film concludes with the assassination.Unfortunately parts of the sound track for the first 3 reels are lost. In the restoration you have to get by with subtitles. It's weird cuz there's no music either.Interestingly, the movie sort of looks like a silent film. Heavy makeup, blanched out faces. Some scenes are really kool. Others are drawn out and boring. In all it's a 5.

A fair amount of footage and sound has apparently been lost, and I felt cheated after watching the film in its most restored state. The most glaring omission is that there was nothing about Gettysburg or probably the most famous speech that any president has ever made, especially with regards that the address was only two minutes long.Another bone of contention was that any African Americans in any semblance of prominence were actually actors with black face. While understanding it was a thing to do in that era, the scenes still left me shaking my head. There were nice moments, including Robert E. Lee in his tent. But enough drab moments suggest to me that D.W. Griffith's heart wasn't truly in the production of his film.

Walter Huston gets an A for effort, his performance is certainly far too melodramatic, but he clearly put a lot of heart and soul into it. Besides, the melodrama is more the fault of director D.W. Griffith, who seems to have lost his touch with his talkie films. Very patriotic,not particularly well produced. It falls among those films that were in the transition from silent to sound and have that awkwardness about them. The art direction is rather peculiarly phony looking, and that last shot of the Lincoln Memorial, it seems it would have been cheaper and easier just to get actual footage of the monument itself, rather than to make that phony looking model