Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #20: Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)

 

Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest figures in American history, no matter what your opinion of him is. He was an instrumental player in one of America’s great transition points. Abe Lincoln in Illinois is an adaptation of the play of the same name, which in turn was heavily derived from Carl Sandburg’s Prairie Years volume of his Lincoln biography. Thus it charts Lincoln’s life from the 1830s up until the 1860 election. Running at a little under two hours, it commits one of the common sins of biopics, which is trying to cover too much of a person’s life. Thus I was surprised to not only enjoy the film, but be legitimately invested in much of it, especially towards the end.

Raymond Massey was famous for playing Lincoln in the stage version, and he reprises his role here for an Academy Award nomination. Massey was well into his forties, so the earlier scenes seem a bit off. For example, we first see him being sent off by his mother to make something of himself in the world. Massey’s aged face makes the scene somewhat comical. As the film progresses, though, I do get more comfortable with him in the role, and his age definitely fits in the last act.

Massey’s Lincoln is a good-natured, self-deprecating county boy who wins the hearts of almost everyone around him. He goes from taking odd frontier jobs to becoming a lawyer. He’s also consistently reluctant to get involved with politics, first being pressured into becoming a local politician, then a congressman, and finally running for the presidency despite his self-doubts. While this does humanize him much more than some rather hagiographic depictions, I’m going to have to call foul on its accuracy. Lincoln may have had humble origins, but he definitely had an ambitious streak and I don’t think he needed everyone to keep prodding him towards his destiny. Because of time’s sake, the movie also skips over his railroad lawyer career. The railroad industry in 19^th Century America was notoriously corrupt, so it’s possible Lincoln had to get dirty despite his “Honest Abe” appellation.

Lincoln with Ann Rutledge

While I disagree with some of the main character’s portrayal from a historian-brained standpoint, I do admit that Abe Lincoln in Illinois does a nice job sticking close to history with a few dramatic embellishments. Lincoln’s love life gets considerable attention, and it reflects the two parts of the film. In the first half Lincoln is smitten with Ann Rutledge (Mary Howard). As many know, this was the woman who fell ill and died before Lincoln truly expressed how he felt about her. Her death would have a large effect on him, and it can be argued that he loved her more than the woman he actually ended up marrying.

The other woman is Mary Todd (Ruth Gordon). Mary Todd was famous for predicting that the man she married would become president. She is certainly more ambitious and lively than Rutledge and gives the film some much needed energy. Gordon actually looks like Mary Todd, and it's too bad we didn't get a more focused movie that would have offered her more screentime. The movie doesn’t delve deeply into it, but we do get a hint that the marriage was not always smooth thanks to Mary Todd’s temperamental manner.

The Lincoln family poses for a photograph (https://seeingthingssecondhand.com/2020/06/03/abe-lincoln-in-illinois-1940/).

If Lincoln has an antagonist, then it’s Stephen Douglas (Gene Lockhart). He’s accurately shown as a short but powerful man (he was nicknamed “The Little Giant”). By the last act he’s taking on Lincoln in a House Representative election. Though Lincoln lost the election, his debates with Douglas on the issue of slavery really put him on the national map. The debate scene is my favorite part of the movie. It condenses the highlights of their arguments, with Lincoln’s speech smoothly patching together all his most famous quotes from the debates. While we're on the topic, the movie makes a point that slavery is an issue that needs to be confronted, that America can't just ignore it. Many viewers believe that this was a pro-intervention message for World War II.

There are quite a few cameos from other historical figures, but the one that stuck out to me was John Brown and Robert E. Lee. I was surprised to get a depiction of the end of John Brown’s Raid. Lee didn’t personally storm the Harpers Ferry’s arsenal himself, and as with many visual representations of the Civil War he’s already gray-haired and bearded (I’ll discuss this more in my Gods and Generals review).

Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a pleasant highlight reel of Lincoln’s life before the Civil War. Perhaps if your kids can sit through old movies, it can be used to give them a fairly accurate lesson on Lincoln.

Rating: 7/10