Abraham Lincoln (1930) User Reviews (51)

Cliff-Notes biopic of the 16th President...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 3 May 2023]

... "personally directed" by D. W. Griffith. Walter Huston stars as Lincoln, shown from his birth through his rough-and-tumble early years, his doomed romance with Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel), his marriage to the eccentric Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), and his election to the presidency, where he presided over the U. S. Civil War, during which he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, before being felled by an assassin's bullet.

Like most of Griffith's movies, this is a mixed bag of interesting choices, corny populism, and a rose-colored vision of the past. I was surprised by the opening of the film, set aboard a trans-Atlantic slave ship, featuring slave traders coldly discussing their remaining "inventory" as they toss a dead African overboard. As this was one of a few scenes missing its audio, I have a feeling it was often cut out during exhibition.

I was confused by Griffith's decision to cast E. Alyn Warren as both Stephen Douglas and Ulysses Grant: were there not enough qualified actors around? I liked seeing silent film stalwarts Hobart Bosworth and Henry B. Walthall as General Robert E. Lee and his attendant colonel, respectively. I liked Walter Huston as Honest Abe, and was surprised by how much he looked like the photographs of Lincoln in the last third of the film.

The biopic elements themselves are simplistic and hagiographic, and things seemed rushed, trying to tell his entire life story in 90 minutes. I was not a fan of Hammond as Mary Todd, and felt she dragged the proceedings down quite a bit.

Lincoln: "From the log cabin to the White House"

[lugonian · 7/10 · 7 September 2001]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (United Artists, 1930), directed by movie pioneer D.W. Griffith, is an interesting antique, being Griffith's first of two ventures in talking pictures.

This movie about an American president is more of Griffith's style, in spite that his technique in movie directing has become passé since the start of the roaring twenties. Handicapped by its slow pacing, Walter Huston gives a very fine performance in his title role, with Kay Hammond somewhat satisfactory as his wife and later first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, along with Ian Keith adding fine support with his few scenes as John Wilkes Booth, a crazed stage actor who puts an end to Lincoln's life on that tragic day of April 14, 1865. However, it is Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge, Lincoln's true love interest in the early portion of the story, whose performance weakens the film. This capable actress might have made a go with her role if it weren't for some bad dialog she recites, such as responding to Lincoln following his proposal to her, "Yes, Abe. You've got your gingerbread." Then there are Griffith screen veterans of the silent era, Henry B. Walthall as Colonel Marshall; Hobart Bosworth as General Robert E. Lee; and the great character actress, Lucille LaVerne, the spiteful old hag in ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1921) appearing in an opening scene as Mrs. Lincoln's midwife. Her raspy voice fits her personality to a "T".

With the screenplay by Stephen Vincent Benet, this epic biography with episodic events opens with the birth of a great man, Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, 1809. Moments later viewers find the infant now "the ugliest and smartest man in New Salem" clerking at Denton Offut's general store, his romance with young Ann Rutledge who later dies, and functioning as a young lawyer. After he meets Mary Todd at a society ball, the scene shifts to Lincoln as a bridegroom having second thoughts about attending his own wedding. He eventually marries her. Move forward to the 1860 Lincoln-Douglas (E. Alyn Warren) debate, which, as seen on screen, is not much of a debate but just two participants delivering a few words of dialog each. Lincoln wins the presidency and is soon faced with his long battle with the Civil War and placing Colonel Ulysses S. Grant (Fred Warren) in charge to put an end to it. After the end of the war, 1865, Lincoln wins his second term election, but doesn't live to fulfill it.

Originally released in theaters at 97 minutes, ABRAHAM LINCOLN in recent years has become a public domain title distributed by various video companies, most presenting bad copies with shorter lengths, many cut down to about 84 minutes, some eliminating scenes with Lincoln heading over towards the cemetery during a thunder storm crying over Ann's grave; another involving Lincoln tender moments with his youngest son, Tad (Gordon Thorpe). After coming across these inferior copies in video stores, I've managed to locate an excellent and more accurate video copy in 1986, compliments of Blackhawk Video. Not only was the video print clear in both visuals and sound, it included restored events eliminated from reissue copies, the ones that had played on Arts and Entertainment channel, Turner Classic Movies (where it made its debut March 8, 2007) and many public television stations during the late night hours. Reissue prints begin with a view of a log cabin and sound track of whistling winds superimposed with the title of February 12, 1809. In the nearly restored 93 minute video copy, it begins with a five minute prologue done in the silent film tradition showing slaves being shipped to the United States followed by other historic events and conversations amongst various politicians (one of them played by Henry Kolker), before shifting towards the event of Lincoln's birth in a log cabin. There are other silent sequences interacted into the story later on, as well as some off screen singing in the sound track not shown in the edited versions.

It's been said that ABRAHAM LINCOLN was a financial and critical success upon release. By today's standards, it hasn't stood the test of time. Future retelling on Lincoln's life, YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (1939) with Henry Fonda, and ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940), with Raymond Massey, are both excellent in their own way and continue to hold interest. However, Griffith's adaptation is the only one of the three mentioned to focus on the Civil War. Regardless of its handicaps, Griffith's first talkie on the life of Lincoln has some interesting moments, but otherwise it's a rather dull affair. Worth viewing for history buffs, but aside from Lincoln's frequent remark, "The union must be preserved," don't expect an accurate history lesson out of this. (**1/2)

Abraham Lincoln (1930)

[jazza923 · 6/10 · 26 February 2010]

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

Griffith showed a new maturity for sound

[zpzjones · 10 July 2004]

This being a presidential election year made me curious about this early talkie. I had seen it before but it's been a while and so I wanted to actually go through a diagnosis of the movie itself. So I dragged out an old A&E VHS made copy. Griffith had tackled the Booth assassination of Lincoln before in the silent Birth of A Nation. Here he did it in sound and Ian Keith is great as John Wilkes Booth: "S-I-C T-E-M-P-E-R T-Y-R-A-N-N-I-S... As he yells after he shoots Lincoln at Ford's theatre and jumps onto the stage. And Walter Huston is much more Lincolnesque than Henry Fonda would be ten years later. Also the scene where Lincoln & U.S. Grant are conversating over cigars was kind of priceless. Una Merkel is compelling in an early film performance as Lincoln's first wife Ann Rutledge.

This was Griffith's first sound film and he shows a somewhat uneasiness with the new medium but what director didn't in 1930. Griffith faired better than most. If you can look past the oldness of the film you'll see that this is pretty much a straight forward & accurate & well made(by 1930 standards) telling of the events of Lincoln's life. The sort of way Masterpiece Theatre would later tell stories episodically over many hours decades later. Griffith shows an aptitude for shooting that had already happened in the late silents of Hollywood. He makes quality use of the moving camera. Roving in and out of some scenes. The shot where the soldiers are fighting in trenches during the Civil War are similar to the same kind of shot Lewis Milestone did in All's Quiet On the Western Front which also came out in 1930. But even both of these films hark back to Griffith's own scene in Birth of A Nation where the South is battling the North and the Colonel jumps out of the trench to stoke a cannon.

This was not Griffith's first experiment with sound. He had shot some experimental dialogue scenes for his 1921 feature Dream Street. A short 1921 intro to Dream Street with Griffith talking up the film still exists as well as a 1930 sitdown interview with Huston promo-ing Abraham Lincoln. But Abraham Lincoln showed a 'newer' Griffith. Moving away from the static camera of which he was famous and adopting a more fluid style which was recently introduced by some German directors. Griffith even this late still liked old fashioned 19th century melodrama stories. Lincoln's life story is certainly a subject he could sink his teeth into. He had done bits and parts of Lincoln's life before particularly the Ford's Theatre scene in BoAN. Abraham Lincoln is Not necessarily a great film nor the best of 1930 but a very interesting foray into sound by a great film pioneer and like mentioned before a lot of the Lincoln life is covered quite surprisingly well.

Accomplished biopic of a noble politician

[tim-764-291856 · 6/10 · 25 November 2010]

It seems incredible the leaps and bounds that were made in less than ten years of cinema back some 90 years ago. D W Griffith's portrait of the great, noble pioneer in U.S politics has all the standard techniques and flourishes that now seem to have become the norm.

Walter Houston looks to be perfectly cast as 'Abe' - towering and dominant without being domineering and having that air of quiet authority. That he was humanitarian and resisted conflict whenever able to. It was nice also to have wife Mary's domestic quibbles thrown in, making this an interesting character study rather than a stiff history lesson.

As for history, no, I didn't learn a great deal, but didn't expect to. I wanted more to see how one of the great pioneering film directors portrayed another Great Man. The wonderfully produced epitaph in the final seconds showed testament to the power of them both.

Yes, the film's sound is hissy and pretty scratchy (I viewed it on-line at Internet Archive) but compared to most movies, certainly of that era and posted on that site, I found it surprisingly enjoyable and effortless.

Yes, it is bad, but...

[zetes · 6/10 · 14 April 2002]

I think it qualifies as a must-see film for all true scholars of the cinema. That is not to say that it is a good film. It is most certainly not. But this is really a perfect film in which to study the biggest change that this artistic medium ever experienced, the change from silence to sound. The whole film comes off as so, so awkward. It doesn't help that the script is awful. The film is actually over-ambitious, trying hard to cover the entire life of Abe, from birth to death. However bad Abraham Lincoln is, though, I myself found it more than watchable and always fascinating. 6/10.

Dull, but Interesting from an historical perspective

[mstomaso · 4/10 · 5 March 2008]

Famous silent film director D. W. Griffiths gave us this plodding straightforward historical biopic of the sixteenth president of the United States. As one of Griffiths' few attempts at 'talkies', Abraham Lincoln is by no means outstanding. Like other films of the period, some of the actors (especially Ian Keith as J.W. Booth and Walter Huston as Lincoln) overact their gestures and facial expressions. While others overcompensate for the new medium and seem to play their roles too subtly (Una Merkel's Ann Rutledge).

The film tells the story of Lincoln's rise from humble roots to become one of the most accomplished American orators of all time, while retaining the plain-spoken character that endeared him to the nation. The film uses an appreciative tone, and does not fairly represent Lincoln's considerable political acumen and the very calculated campaign strategies which put him in office. Instead, Griffiths chose to present Lincoln as the good, but somewhat melancholic president we know him to have been.

The story is told in a series of vignettes depicted in scenes of about equal length - probably a limitation of the film technology available at the time. This mode of presentation does nothing to reduce the boredom factor. Most of the lines are pronounced very clearly with lengthy unnatural pauses between each line. Clearly, Griffiths was a little uncomfortable in the new sound medium and did not wish to experiment a great deal with it. The film picks up a bit as the civil war becomes its main focus. And some of the battle scenes are classic Griffiths' near-silent cinematography. However, even this is somewhat muted by the scenes of the president brooding over the dispatches he receives from his generals describing defeat after defeat.

Recommended for early film buffs and young Lincoln afficionados only

Abraham Lincoln Achieves Griffith Sainthood

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 11 November 2007]

If one were to commission a film depicting the life of Abraham Lincoln, in 1930, one might well produce this film; and, one would be very satisfied with the resulting "Abraham Lincoln", both artistically, and commercially. Today, however, this is not a very exciting film. It succeeds somewhat as a series of staged vignettes, depicting stories about President Lincoln.

Walter Huston is given the difficult job of portraying the revered Lincoln, and he excels, after a shaky start. Director D.W. Griffith employs a fine supporting cast, with mixed results. Early scenes are hampered by the characterizations offered by Una Merkel (as Ann Rutledge) and Kay Hammond (as Mary Todd); these are "the romances" of Lincoln's life; and, they are awful. The courtship scenes involving Mr. Huston and Ms. Merkel are particularly absurd. Henry B. Walthall is notable, later on; but. he doesn't have much to do. It might have been interesting to see Mr. Walthall play John Wilkes Booth -- admittedly, this was an unlikely consideration at the time; and, Ian Keith is perfectly suitable in the role. Walthall graciously supports Hobart Bosworth (as Robert E. Lee) during his screen time; and, Mr. Bosworth is outstanding.

There is no mystery in the main story elements: he was born in a log cabin, and is assassinated in the end. Griffith acquaints himself well with "sound" in a film, though, in hindsight, it is a technical weakness. There are moments, or flashes, of "greatness" in the film, but they don't contribute to a collective work of consequence. Griffith treats Lincoln with a reverence that is oddly uncomfortable; by the film's end, the story structure confirms Lincoln has become Divine. The ending reprise of "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on..." nicely evokes both "John Brown's Body" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." An appropriate connection.

******* Abraham Lincoln (8/25/30) D.W. Griffith ~ Walter Huston, Kay Hammond, Hobart Bosworth

A road accident of a film.

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 20 May 2009]

DW Griffiths first sound film is a static laugh fest. Out dated when it was made the survives at all because there is something truly bizarre about Walter Huston's lead performance (His is the only performance in a film full of non performances). He seems to think that Lincoln was a goof ball and while on some level it's a charming portrait its unlike anything I've ever seen or read in a portrait of the 16th president. (Huston's size also seems to vary from scenes to scene depending on the actors around him for a truly odd effect) The rest of the film is a throw back to the cinema pre-Birth of a Nation, with much of the scenes arranged in odd tableaux. To be certain part of it maybe the uncertainty of early sound equipment, however the result is like watching stuffed animals in a museum. The script is awful. It zips through Lincoln's life faster then cliff notes pausing only for romance, jokes and the odd highlight. Only one scene works, Lincoln's legendary late night walking the halls of the White House. Its a sequence that is strangely poignant. The rest of this film is like watching a bad road accident. Even allowing for the passage of 80 years I can't believe anyone ever took this film seriously. It's a turkey

"The Most Romantic Figure Who Ever Lived????"

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 12 February 2006]

Before writing this review I saw that publicity driven line about this film. Abraham Lincoln is a lot of things, but NOBODY ever accused him of being a great romantic. All I can say there is, Huh?

Abraham Lincoln is one of two sound films made by movie pioneer, David W. Griffith. It's also something of an atonement for Griffith who was accused fostering racism with his masterpiece silent work, The Birth of a Nation.

Maybe if Abraham Lincoln had been a better film it would have succeeded in being an atonement. It certainly had one of the best interpreters of Lincoln ever in Walter Huston. The film also in many ways looks like a newsreel of the Civil War era. Our image of that era and you can see it in Ken Burns documentary comes from Matthew Brady's still photographs. In crafting this and The Birth of a Nation, Griffith was heavily influenced by Brady's still photographs.

Lincoln's prarie years were better told in Abe Lincoln in Illinois and Young Mr. Lincoln. Griffith should have stuck to the war years and made it in fact the Lincoln family story. One thing that would have done is eliminated Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge. Una Merkel had many a good role as a wisecracking dame in modern films. But in Abraham Lincoln she's just awful as Lincoln's lost love Ann Rutledge. It's a miracle she had a career after this film and a good one.

Deadly Slow.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 9 July 2010]

It refuses to fly. The whole thing constitutes 90 minutes of parasitic drag.

General MacLellan might have directed this. It has "a case of the slows." It begins with Abraham Lincoln's birth. There are extensive scenes of Lincoln (Walter Huston) tentatively courting Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel). They both move and speak slowly. The flirtation drags along. Merkel gets sick and dies with Huston by her side. She has long slow last words -- many long slow last words. Nine years later, John Ford zipped through all this in a few minutes. We didn't even see Ann Rutledge die, just a half frozen river accompanied by a few tragic chords in Al Newman's score.

I understand that D. W. Griffith practically invented the grammar of the moving picture -- the cross-cutting, the invisible editing, the close up -- but he couldn't do a thing with this Steven Vincent Benet script, nor with the images we see on the screen.

The close ups are an embarrassment. The actors are made up so emphatically that their lips and eyes might be seen from the most distant row of the balcony.

One wonders whether Griffith really believed that Abraham Lincoln was such a great president. After all, from the director's point of view, Lincoln was on the wrong side of the Civil War. But maybe Griffith did admire Lincoln. Maybe he thought, "Well, at least Lincoln gave us Thanksgiving." But nothing can excuse a film that seems to have been shot in a vast tank of molasses.

There's something to be said for quitting while you're ahead.

D.W. Griffith's last hurrah: a tribute to Abraham Lincoln

[Rambler · 8/10 · 9 October 1998]

This film was to be D.W. Griffith's big comeback production, and it did very well for "the old master." In fact, it was chosen as number two of the Ten Best Pictures of 1930 by The Film Daily, just below "All Quiet On The Western Front!" Sadly, due to the horrible condition of the available prints of this film, no really fair analysis can be made today. As with so many early talkies, Abraham Lincoln is now a sickly shadow of what it was in 1930. To begin with, it's original running time is listed at approximately 96 minutes. The version presented on Laserdisc runs 83 minutes.The film shows signs of wear and duping. The soundtrack is horribly distorted and, in several scenes, seems to be missing totally, replaced by terrible music from a stock library. Even so, if one can look past these things and take the acting style in the context of its time, one can see that Griffith had not lost his flair and would have probably continued directing had the fates (and probably Hollywood) not conspired against him. There are wonderful cinematic moments, reminiscent of some of his earlier triumphs. This is a film that cries out for restoration but, alas, there is most likely little or nothing left to restore. UPDATE: In 2008, KINO International released a DVD version of Abraham Lincoln that is far more complete than the old Laserdisc I reviewed from in 1998. While some soundtrack from the Prologue is still missing, KINO has made up for it by adding subtitles for the missing dialogue. Also, the picture quality is far superior to anything else available. It is evident that much effort went into making this forgotten film much more watchable and available!

Excellent costumes, make-up.

[meabrams · 6/10 · 24 December 2005]

Walter Huston gives an overdrawn but somehow compelling picture of the mythological Lincoln, even if the movie, itself, seems cut out of a comic strip. I would give this movie some good marks for verisimilitude, if nothing else. There are some terrible lapses in history, some twisting, some stretching, but what does one expect in a movie? Honestly, the actors who play Stephen Douglas, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee are not much more than one-dimensional, but they actually seem closer to reality than the plastic figures in Gods and Generals or Gettysburg. The director W. D. Griffith must have had some of the best makeup people on the planet. If that wasn't Stephen A. Douglass dancing with Mary Todd, then who was it? Griffith had something here, but compressing Lincoln's life into a few scenes was an impossible task to begin with. I like Huston's portrayal of Lincoln. I would watch it again, for that, and only that.

OK film about Abraham Lincoln's life...

[dwpollar · 4/10 · 20 January 2010]

1st watched 1/19/2009 - 4 out of 10 (Dir-D.W. Griffith): OK film about Abraham Lincoln's life is definitely a good piece of history for America but not a great movie. One of the two D.W. Griffith talkies in existence is definitely grand in scale for it's time and uplifting from an American standpoint. The problem is that it almost comes across too much like it's stamped with an American label. Lincoln's faults are not really well explored and he's portrayed as a savior to the country(the union must be preserved!! was his favorite saying) -- without question. Walter Huston's portrayal is good but the makeup is better especially in the later years. This is a technically well made film and Griffith does some good montage sequences to bring us from scene to scene but watching this movie is almost like reading a history book. Granted, Lincoln is a treasured part of America, but still a human being in my book. This was made during a time when we wanted our heroes full-proof unlike today where we like to see all sides of individuals. Therefore, the movie doesn't age well. Sure this is a good bit of history that can be viewed in a classroom but not enjoyed in a movie house. Again, maybe our enlightened age just dampers the viewing, but I have to say it how I see it.

Charming biopic undermined by historical revisionism

[klondike2 · 23 June 2010]

If Griffith had stuck to Lincoln's personal life, this could have been an interesting, amusing, and occasionally insightful film. Griffith gives us a multi-layered and largely accurate portrait of Lincoln the man. We see the ungainly country lawyer, countrified in speech and manner, often serious, even melancholy, but with a rare ability to find humor in the most unlikely places and to laugh even at himself. We see Lincoln the inveterate story-teller, the insomniac, the doting father, the determined commander-in-chief the patient husband. If this had been the whole of the film, it would have been easy to overlook its painfully outdated style and to forgive its frequent omissions and exaggerations as poetic license.

Unfortunately, the film necessarily includes Lincoln's political life, and here it moves from poetic license to outright falsehood. Slavery was the central issue of Lincoln's political career, a fact that Griffith tries to obscure, going so far as to turn Lincoln's pivotal 'House Divided' speech into an argument against secession. This is particularly ironic since it was really Lincoln's battle cry against encroaching slavery. When South Carolinians seceded two years later, this was the speech they pointed to as proof that when Lincoln took office, "the slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government ... and the Federal Government will have become their enemy."

During Lincoln's presidency, the question of slavery occupied much of his time and attention, yet again Griffith chooses to ignore it. His Lincoln spends more time admiring the courage of Confederate soldiers than worrying about slavery. Even the Emancipation Proclamation gets only the briefest attention. Lincoln reads a line from the document, signs it, and says, "Well, gentlemen, it is done." It's oddly dismissive, coming from a man who considered emancipation the central act of his presidency and the most meaningful act of his life.

Denied his opposition to slavery and concomitant commitment to democracy and the inalienable rights of man, Lincoln is reduced to endlessly repeating, "The Union must be preserved." Why it must be preserved is left to the audience's imagination. The film never gives us the slightest clue.

Pretty Decent Movie With A Very Human Portrayal Of Lincoln

[sddavis63 · 7/10 · 6 August 2009]

Its historical accuracy may be questionable, but overall I still thought this portrayal of the life of Abraham Lincoln, directed by the famous D.W. Griffith, was an interesting enough film, certainly helped by a very good performance from Walter Huston in the title role and by a very human interpretation of Lincoln himself, who is often portrayed as an almost messianic figure, but whose life here is shown to be a generally unhappy one, as Lincoln deals with the death of his only true love Ann Rutledge (who I thought was well played by Una Merkel), is saddled with a largely unhappy marriage to Mary Todd (Kay Hammond) and, of course, deals with the carnage of the Civil War once in the White House. The first half of the movie feels more like a series of vignettes of Lincoln's early life with little flow to it. The second half of the movie deals exclusively with the Civil War, although even in this depiction much is left out. There's a lot of focus on Lincoln's decision to make Grant the Union Commander, for example, but nothing on the earlier decision to relieve McLellan from command, which caused Lincoln a lot of problems. It's clearly (and accurately) pointed out here that Lincoln's real concern was not with ending slavery but was rather with preserving the Union. The line "the Union must be preserved" (or variations of it) is spoken at least 10 times in less than an hour and a half. The portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln is not a flattering one. She comes across as grasping, self-centred and controlling (and some modern historians believe that she was schizophrenic) although these qualities also lead to a bit of humour in the movie as Lincoln tells Grant he may take up smoking after Grant's cigar smoke drives Mary away.

Having recently watched his silent classic "The Birth Of A Nation," I continue to be surprised by D.W. Griffith's very positive take on Lincoln. Griffith clearly sympathized with the South (here, Lee comes across as quite noble and seeking to avoid bloodshed as the war nears its end, while Grant is portrayed as a drunkard) and yet it's also clear that he thought highly of Lincoln, who was portrayed as very sympathetic to the South, to the point at which he wanted Jefferson Davis to be allowed to escape. All things considered this isn't a bad movie at all, especially considering that it's a very early example of a talkie, and the technical quality of the movie shows that movie-makers still had a lot to learn about the new medium. 7/10

Medveds be damned!

[Spuzzlightyear · 6/10 · 23 April 2006]

Forever damned as one of the "50 Worst Movies of All Time" by those well respected critics (sarcasm) The Medved brothers, Abraham Lincoln is by all means not the worst movie I've ever seen, heck, I really wouldn't call it bad, it just a bit slow and has some hooty moments, but otherwise might serve as a nice early representation of a president on Film. Walter Huston, brilliant actor as he is, I don't think quite pulls off the role here. His Lincoln is awfully stiff, goes dreamy eyed when making Some Significant Statement. Actually, all the acting is quite stiff here, I guess being the time, they were still doing Silent Movie Acting and not quite getting the rhythm down yet for sound films. Least person to know this is the actress playing Mrs Lincoln, who always jumping around, acting acting acting. As for the story, I'm not American, so I can't really judge of what's true or not, but it does make coherent sense, So I have no complaints about this really.

Walter Huston is excellent as the 16th President.

[bryank-04844 · 5/10 · 22 July 2015]

D.W. Griffith's 'Abraham Lincoln' is one hell of a film still today as it was back in the 30s. It sure is fitting that Kino decided to release this particular film now, what with the recent election and Spielberg's big budget 'Lincoln' film still in theaters. Not too mention that since the 2012 election, we are seeing several states trying to secede from the union, a very real scenario back when Lincoln was president as well. What might set this particular film aside from the rest of the Abraham Lincoln centered films besides this one being one of the first films to be solely about the 16th president is that Griffith's 'Abraham Lincoln' covers the entire life from birth to death of the legendary president.

Plus, Griffith's 'Abraham Lincoln' is an opposing look to his previous film 'The Birth of Nation', the latter being a very racially charged film being released in 1915. 'Abraham Lincoln' jumps around quite a bit as we have to get the full span of Lincoln's life in under 100 minutes. The film starts off on a slave ship and cuts to a log cabin where Lincoln is born and given his name. We immediately jump to a young twenty -something Lincoln (Walter Huston) having fun with some friends in a bar as he lifts a giant barrel of alcohol to drink. We also get to see a young Abraham become smitten with his first love, Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel), win a wrestling match, and being a fun loving, charming, and powerful young man. It's great to see our 16th president be a normal guy as he studies law and is always ready and willing to be intimate with his girl.

However, Ann becomes ill and passes away. Abraham becomes a broken man and even resorts to lying down on top of her grave because he misses her so much. But since the film's run-time is short, we swiftly move into Lincoln meeting his wife Mary Todd (Kay Hammond) as we see Abraham dive into his early political career then onto his presidency, where we get the epic beard.

As this film is more of a dialogue driven film, rather than epic battle sequences, we don't see a lot of action during the Civil War. This movie focuses more on the emotional and psychological state of Lincoln. It was great to see how the name Honest Abe became about and how frustrated and sadden Lincoln is during this war time. But when Lincoln isn't bogged down by the important serious issues, he is actually a fun and silly guy, one you might want to hang out with.

This is one of Griffith's last movies he made and it is a pretty straight forward film without a lot of creative art direction. And we all know that the Gettysburg Address was one of Lincoln's biggest moments, however that whole speech was not given any screen time. I was hoping for an extra on this disc that discussed why, but unfortunately, there is none. However, there are a several key moments in the film that lead up to the murder of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth (Ian Keith).

If it wasn't for Huston's performance as Lincoln, I'd say this was a pretty lackluster attempt at making a film about our 16th president. That being said, I think this is worth a look if you haven't seen it, especially on blu-ray.

Honest Abe

[AW_RATLIFFHxC · 6/10 · 11 February 2013]

After seeing the modern movie versions of Abe Lincoln I was curious to see what this one was like. Personally when it comes to movies portraying historical characters I'm most concerned with the facts then with anything else. In that regard the movie didn't seem to run away with an artistic license , but did manage to focus on what Lincoln was trying to achieve " to preserve the union". A line repeated several times through out the the movie. The movie was more like a snap-shot of the life of Lincoln piecing together highlights of Lincoln's life. And maybe it was better this way , filling in the gaps with fiction doesn't serve history very well. Sure you cant be 100% factual when trying to make a movie but have some kind integrity. The film is defiantly a product of its time- film quality , acting , but if you can over look that it isn't that terrible.

Five of ten

[arfdawg-1 · 4/10 · 26 April 2014]

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.

Griffith's portrayal of Lincoln is shallow

[jokeman2 · 6/10 · 28 December 2006]

D.W. Girrifth's "Abraham Lincoln" is so concerned with portraying Lincoln as a compassionate leader that it forgets Lincoln's most overlooked quality: His intelligence!

In fairness to Griffith I must agree with a previous review which accurately stated that it is simply impossible for a 21st century audience to fully appreciate what this film looked and sounded like in 1930. Indeed, the DVD transfer of the film which I viewed displayed a lackluster picture and a poor sound quality.

However, despite the obvious technical difficulties, it appears as though Griffith was attempting to make a "talkie" with silent film techniques. This is exemplified in Griffith's continued condensing of crucial episodes in Lincoln's life such as his courtship of Mary Todd and his decision to resupply Fort Sumter. Griffith's lack of historical detail leaves us with a Lincoln who is portrayed as little more than a nice guy who displays an "awe shucks" approach to life.

In reality, Lincoln calculated virtually every move of his public life from his decision to run for President in 1860, to his issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation to his Second Inaugural Address. That's not to say that compassion was not central to Lincoln's character. However, his unmatched intelligence (as is illustrated in Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals)deserves more attention.

The T.V. adaptation of Gore Vidal's Lincoln offers a much more balanced and complete view of Lincoln. In fairness to this film, Walter Houston puts forth a solid performance and Griffith's brief portrayal of Lincoln's frontier birth is an excellent introduction. However, such an extraordinary life deserved greater attention to detail. I sincerely hope that Steven Spielberg's upcoming Lincoln film learns from Griffith's mistakes.

Not Much to Do With Politics, War, or Abraham Lincoln

[brandinscottlindsey · 3/10 · 21 July 2017]

Abraham Lincoln is a 1930 film based on the life of the sixteenth president of the United States of America. The story follows Lincoln from his birth, through adulthood, and into the hardships of his presidency. The film is a dramatized version of Lincoln's biography, and essentially goes through every important event in Lincoln's life.

One of the best parts of the film is the uncanny resemblance between the lead actor and Abraham Lincoln. This doppelganger effect helps the actor achieve a very convincing Lincoln. Some of the humor in the film still holds up and you'll get some laughs from the dialogue. It is also nice to see such a friendly political debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The point versus point format of the debate in the film appears more realistic and civil than what we have in reality.

Unfortunately, there is much about the film that can be criticized. There are spots of bad acting throughout, such as the "I'm angry" folding of the arms and pouting bottom lip routine. There are awkward camera stares by the characters that are meant to accentuate their points, but instead are confusing and do anything but accentuate. Lincoln said three times that he wanted to preserve the Union, and then looks directly at the camera and practically yells it. Is he talking to me or is there a character directly behind the camera he is speaking to? There are corny, melodramatic moments, especially between Lincoln and his first wife. The movie moves from one event to the next at a break-neck speed, never allowing the story or characters to develop. His ascension to presidency is clumsily foreshadowed in his early years repeatedly. Far too often. Not to mention the fact that Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, is completely insufferable.

The cynicism of the Mary Todd character is not based on any historical inaccuracies, it is the fact that we are shown her vapid and selfish personality and it is never addressed or resolved. We know that she was pursuing Lincoln before she met him due to his potential wealth and power. But why does Lincoln like her? For that matter, why does Lincoln have the political feelings that he is so adamant about? The film never addresses the conflicts and thoughts of the characters. Of course, we can learn what has happened in history ourselves, but the movie itself does nothing in this regard, and honestly should have been the basis of the story. The audience knows the historical chronological events, but when the "why" of the matter is dropped, the film loses all feeling and meaning. Instead of developing the character of Lincoln, we are given a checklist of important events, which are then dramatized.

I do not recommend this film to anyone. If you want to explore the personality and life of Abraham Lincoln, you're not going to get it here. If you want a civil war movie, you're not going to get that either. If your intent is to delve into the slavery debate at the time, that doesn't exist in this film. Perhaps you're simply interested in Lincoln's personal life and his familial relationships. You won't get that either. I hate to say it, but this is definitely one of the worst Abraham Lincoln films.

"If it wasn't for my advice, you'd be out in Oregon chopping trees"

[keesha45 · 9/10 · 30 May 2007]

As the above quote by Mary Lincoln illustrates, this film is full of accurate Lincoln history (he was offered a federal job in the Oregon Territory after losing his seat in Congress, but declined it.) While director D.W. Griffith is often portrayed as a racist due to his earlier BIRTH OF A NATION, one must remember that he was a product of his time and of his southern roots. His scene of General Lee nearly overcome with fatigue in his tent near the end of the war after saving the life of a Union spy indicates that he wanted to show the humanity of the Confederacy's leader was no less than that of Lincoln. But he merely uses this to show that the Confederate struggle had its good points, which takes nothing away from the Lincoln story. It's clear that Griffith must have greatly admired Lincoln and he does a masterful job in bringing him to life. His images of Lincoln, Lee and other historical figures are perfectly crafted,by his use of makeup and finding actors to play those parts. His casting of Walter Huston in the title role was a stroke of brilliance, and his First Lady on screen was played equally well. It's not Griffith's best work by a long shot, but he proved he could have been a capable director of talking pictures if he'd been given the chance. Sadly, he only made one more film after this. While he probably deserves more acclaim for his pioneering work in the film industry, this film is well written by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Vincent Benet and directed by one of the true giants of the silver screen. As a historical writer, I heartily recommend it as a fine way to learn more about our 16th President while enjoying the work of a true master filmmaker. Dale Roloff

"He'll be more than a rail splitter."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 4 April 2016]

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.

There's Enough Missing to Hurt.

[EyeDunno · 5/10 · 19 April 2013]

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.