Abraham Lincoln (1930)

Abraham Lincoln, also released under the title D. W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln", is a 1930 pre-Code American biographical film about Abraham Lincoln directed by D. W. Griffith. It stars Walter Huston as Lincoln and Una Merkel, in her second speaking role, as Ann Rutledge. Her first speaking role was in a short film, Love's Old Sweet Song (1923) filmed in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The script was co-written by Stephen Vincent Benét, author of the Civil War prose poem John Brown's Body, and Gerrit Lloyd. This was the first of only two sound films made by Griffith.

Plot
The first act of the film covers Lincoln's early life as a storekeeper and rail-splitter in New Salem and his early romance with Ann Rutledge, and his early years as a lawyer and his courtship and marriage to Mary Todd in Springfield. The majority of the film deals with Lincoln's presidency during the American Civil War and culminates with Lee's surrender and Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre.

Good Qualities

 * 1) It tells the story about the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
 * 2) The historical moment when Abraham Lincoln gets shot.
 * 3) Walter Huston did great at portraying Abraham Lincoln.
 * 4) This film feels like it's a throwback to The Birth of a Nation.
 * 5) It also tells about the Civil War.
 * 6) It showed the Lincoln Memorial in the ending, Which is sad and heart-wrenching.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) There are some historical inaccuracies, such as John Wilkes Booth arriving at Ford’s Theater immediately to kill Lincoln, when in real life, he waited at the bar next to Ford’s Theater until shortly after 10 pm.
 * 2) Some scenes are missing and the audio is terribly distorted in the film due to so many talkies being lost and having missing scenes.

Reception
The film received positive reviews from contemporary critics. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "quite a worthy pictorial offering with a genuinely fine and inspiring performance by Walter Huston in the role of the martyred President" and later put it on his year-end list of the ten best films of 1930.

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