Abraham Lincoln (United Artists) (1930)

D. W. Griffith’s “Abraham Lincoln” Reviews, Shorts and Current Stories Walter Huston featured in D WQriffiih's “Abraham Lincoln 1—Two Col. Player Scene Head (Mat 10c; Cut 50c) Bigger Than Any Picture Ever Made, "Lincoln” Stands as Acme of Talking Film Entertainment Benet "Lincoln” Script Hailed as Work of Art Lincoln Had Strength Of Two Men, Facts Show No Picture Ever Made Has Power of "Lincoln” (REVIEW) “Abraham Lincoln,” which opened .at the. theatre, is pictorial drama at its great¬ est. Though the picture possesses all of the ingredients of an historical spectacle—big sets, battle scenes and mobs—its greatness is founded on the simplicity of its direction and the sym¬ pathetic treatment of its romantic and tragic scenes. The whole of Lincoln’s life is pa¬ raded on the screen, from the time of his birth to his assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington just as he had realized a successful con¬ clusion to the Civil War. D. W. Griffith has not grown maud¬ lin in his direction of this United Artists picture because Lincoln hap¬ pened to be his personal hero as well as the nation’s saint. He has taken the gaunt giant and put him to work retracing the important incidents of his remarkable life. Lincoln’s heroic figure is seen in all its multiplicity of strange moods. The artistry with which this feat in char¬ acterization is accomplished is largely due to the superb acting of Walter Huston. Huston makes Lincoln a human be¬ ing who loves and reacts to disap¬ pointments as any other man might. Through his interpretation Lincoln becomes one of the best drawn charac¬ ter portraits shown on the screen. The cast, which numbers over one hundred principal speaking players, was chosen wisely. Una Merkel, a newcomer to the screen, plays the role of “Ann Rutledge,” Lincoln’s boy¬ hood sweetheart. Her love scenes with Huston are remarkable for their quiet beauty, and the scene at her death bed is tragedy, sublimely di¬ rected and acted. Kay Hammond plays the irrascible ‘‘Mary Todd Lincoln” perfectly, since her voice and mannerisms are ideally suited to the nagging, caustic Mary Todd of history. Ian Keith does splendidly as the sinister “John Wilkes Booth,” whose cruel shot ended Lincoln’s life. Others in brilliant portrayals are Jason Ro- bards, as “Herndon”; Hobart Bos- worth, as “Robert E. Lee”; Frank Campeau, as “Sheridan,” and Lucille La Verne, as the matron officiating at the birth of Lincoln. Actress Almost Cast To Play “Lincoln” Lucille La Verne, one of America’s most versatile actresses, who startled London recently with her be-whis- kered portrayal of Shakespeare’s “Shy- lock,” adds another distinctive part to her varied characterizations with her role in ‘‘Abraham Lincoln,” D. W. Griffith’s all-dialogue production for United Artists, now showing at the.theatre. Miss La Verne first made up her mind she would play in the picture a month prior to actual filming when she cabled from London requesting that Griffith consider her candidacy for the role of Lincoln, but Walter Huston was selected for the title role and Miss La Verne was signed in¬ stead for an important supporting part. The cast of “Abraham Lincoln” in¬ cludes 112 of the stage and screen’s greatest character players, headed by Walter Huston, Kay Hammond, Una Merkel, Ian Keith, Jason Robards, Hobart Bosworth and Frank Campeau. Kay Hammond As Mary Todd Kay Hammond, who portrays the role of “Mary Todd” in D. W. Grif¬ fith’s “Abraham Lincoln,” the talking epic based on the life of the sixteenth President of the United States, show¬ ing at the.theatre, has a unique stage record. This capable actress has been a star since her first professional appearance on the stage. Beginning at the fam¬ ous Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco as leading lady for Tom Wilkes, a few weelcs after her graduation from a theatrical school at 17, she has pro¬ gressed to the point where she is in constant demand among theatrical producers. Her first audible screen role was the crippled wife in Gloria Swanson's “The Trespasser.” (REVIEW) It is more than sublime entertain¬ ment, D. W. Griffith’s spectacular United Artists production, “Abraham Lincoln,” which opened at the. theatre. It is more than the mere marshalling of interesting facts into a patternwork of sympa¬ thetic romance and vivid drama; it is the life of Lincoln, not merely the apotheosized saint of the copy books, nor yet the Lincoln of the lusty jokes and tragic moods, but the man of des¬ tiny, the mystic and the prophet. Sheer lyrical poetry creeps into those rich passages of romance which show Lincoln and the unfortunate Ann Rut¬ ledge tasting the first fruits of their soon-to-be-ended love. If it is true that there is a growing literature of the screen, this scene will easily find its place of tragic beauty. It is impossible to point the finger of admiration at any one particular scene of this picture, without slighting the whole. Griffith has managed per¬ haps the most difficult directorial job ever undertaken with a touch of gen¬ ius that harks back to the time of his “Birth of a Nation.” He has taken the full life of a man —from birth to death—and assembled his moments of broad humor, romance, suspense, drama and tragedy into a documentary film that must touch the heartstrings of the most ascetic man and woman. The picture opens simply with a symbolic passage showing the evils of the traffic in negroes and then takes up the Lincoln saga at the birth. This scene is reproduced with remarkable fidelity and feeling. Lincoln is next seen during the time of his clerkship in a country store and from there on moves rapidly to his courtship of Ann Rutledge until she dies; to his jilting of Mary Todd and their subsequent marriage with its many amusing do¬ mestic bickerings. The Lincoln of the story books ap¬ pears after his election as President. From there on Lincoln is seen as a changed man; the lines of worry crease his rugged face and set it in a sublime misery of conflicting emo¬ tions. Lincoln’s struggle to preserve the Union against the intrigues of state and war is graphically told in a series of dramatic incidents. The death of Lincoln by the hands of an assassin must rank as one of the greatest scenes of a tragic nature ever filmed. Here Griffith toys with suspense and makes the spectator a living part of that real audience which heard John Booth’s cruel shot at Ford’s Theatre. The end is lyrical poetry transferred to the screen and thanks for this must undoubtedly go to the eminent poet, Stephen Vincent Benet, who wrote the dialogue and many of the romantic and symbolic scenes. The remarkable performance by Walter Huston, as Lincoln, is easily one of the best things done on the talking screen. Huston’s characteriza¬ tion, so full of moods and whimsical¬ ities, penetrates the inner complexities of Lincoln’s moments of broodiness and ribald good nature. His trained voice has caught the kindness, the deft subtleties in inflection and the sterner qualities of Lincoln’s highly pitched tenor. ‘‘Ann Rutledge” is played by Una Merkel and though her part is short, as was the real Ann Rutledge’s, she creates a situation at her death bed that will be remembered long. The peppery-tongued “Mary Todd Lincoln” is played by Kay Hammond, whose voice seemed adequately suited to the nagging, chatterbox role she portrays. The picture is studded throughout its length with gems of individual per¬ formance, notably by Ian Keith, as “John Wilkes Booth”; Jason Robards, as “Herndon”; Hobart Bosworth, as “Robert E. Lee”; Frank Campeau, as “Sheridan,” and Lucille La Verne, who does a short but outstanding bit of work at the birth of Lincoln. World War Veterans In “Lincoln” War Scenes Twelve hundred ex-soldiers were engaged daily in the thrilling battle scenes of “Abraham Lincoln,” D. W. Griffith’s epic all-dialogue life of the Emancipator now showing at the .theatre. The veterans were engaged through the employment office of the Holly¬ wood American Legion and the dis¬ abled veterans’ home at Sawtelle, Calif., near the film city. The cast of this spectacular romance includes Walter Huston and Una Merkel. Sheridan’s Ride A Thrill in Sound The thunderous gallop of charging cavalrymen and the roar of cannon and shrieking shells help the audible recreation of Sheridan’s ride to vic¬ tory in the battlefield scenes of “Ab¬ raham Lincoln,” D. W. Griffith’s all¬ dialogue spectacle at the. theatre. All of the sensational war “shots” of this romance of the Emancipator's life—made for United Artists—were photographed and microphoned in the green pasture lands of Northern Cali¬ fornia. Though the battle scenes take up but a small part of the whole picture, Griffith has employed them, together with various allegorical devices, as effective expedients in symbolizing Lincoln’s official and personal victory after five and a half years in the White House. It isn’t very often that the script for a motion picture is proclaimed a work of art and given the rating of a great literary effort, yet this signal honor was paid to Stephen Vincent Benet, the Pulitzer prize winner and 31-year-old poet-author, who dia¬ logued D. W. Griffith’s United Artists epic, “Abraham Lincoln,” now show¬ ing at the.theatre. Benet’s script was termed no less than a great work of art in a volun¬ tary paean of praise paid him by John W. Considine, Jr., executive produc¬ tion chief at the United Artists stu¬ dios, and by numerous authors who flocked about Benet during his stay in Hollywood. “It is by far the finest piece of work it has been my good fortune to read in all the years I have been in the business,” said Considine. ‘‘It is the perfect scenario.” Griffith, who started in life as a newspaper reporter and poet, with contributions to Leslie’s Magazine, hailed Benet’s story as “the most for¬ ward step yet taken in creative screen writing.” “Abraham Lincoln,” in which Wal¬ ter Huston plays the title role, marks the first film activity of the 31year- old writer who recently won the Pul¬ itzer prize for poetry and the Ten- eyck, Guggenheim Foundation, Albert Stanburrough and Masefield awards. His 100,000 word epic poem, “John Brown’s Body,” is acclaimed univers¬ ally as the American Iliad. Griffith’s picture suggests in its treatment the fervor and the inspired romanticism of that greatest of all silent pictures, “The Birth of a Na¬ tion.” With Huston in the cast are Kay Hammond, as “Mary Todd Lincoln”; Una Merkel, as “Ann Rutledge”; Ian Keith, as “John Wilkes Booth”; Jason Robards, as “Herndon,” Lincoln’s jun¬ ior law partner; Hobart Bosworth, as “Lee”; Frank Campeau, as ‘‘General Sheridan,” and Lucille La Verne. Scene from D W QrLffLtUr "Abraham Lincoln.' 8—One Col. Scene (Mat 05c; Cut 30c) Walter Huston, who plays the title role in “Abraham Lincoln,” D. W. Griffith’s all-dialogued special for United Artists, coming to the. theatre., has made but four motion pictures during his entire screen career of little less than a year and a half. His three previous pictures, “Gen- t' emen of the Press,” ‘‘The Lady Lies” and “The Virginian,” have repeatedly appeared in lists of the ten best pic¬ tures of the year. One publication lists them among the first five. This is all very flattering to Hus¬ ton, who temporarily abandoned a ruling position on the Broadway dra¬ matic stage for the ‘‘talkies.” With becoming modesty he says he cannot quite account for his great success. Many stories are told of Abraham Lincoln’s amazing strength. In D. W. Griffith’s United Artists spectacle, “Abraham Lincoln,” now playing at the . theatre, one of these super-human feats of Lincoln’s is reproduced when Walter Huston, his screen imperson¬ ator drinks from the bung-hole of a barrel weighing 450 pounds. History records that the Liberator was a total abstainer, yet, when goaded by one Jack Armstrong on his abstinence, Lincoln promised to take a drink of whiskey if Armstrong would take it as he did. Accordingly he propped the barrel up on his knees and chest and proceeded to drink, lat¬ er spitting out the liquor when Arm¬ strong admitted his inability to dupli¬ cate the stunt. At another time, Lincoln defeated the champion wrestler of Illinois in a few seconds time. Tradition credits the Emancipator with the strength of two men. His¬ tory, however, records that Lincoln once humanely shouldered a huge hog and carried it across the Sangamon River. Though the natural limitations of the screen prevented him from recreat¬ ing all of the striking episodes in Lin¬ coln’s life, Griffith, nevertheless, has managed to insert all of the most im¬ portant and significant events. The principals heading a cast of 112 important speaking parts are Wal¬ ter Huston, as “Lincoln”; Kay Ham¬ mond, as ‘‘Mary Todd Lincoln”; Una Merkel, as “Ann Rutledge”; Ian Keith, as “John Wilkes Booth”; Jason Robards, as “Herndon”; Hobart Bos¬ worth, as “Robert E. Lee”; Frank Campeau, as “Phil. Sheridan,” and Lucille La Verne. Griffith’s Lead On Stage in “Lincoln” Helen Ware, who was D. W. Grif¬ fith’s former leading lady of the bom¬ bastic, old-time melodramas, has an important character role in the noted producer-director’s all-dialogue spec¬ tacle, ‘‘Abraham Lincoln,” for United Artists, now showing at the. theatre. Miss Ware, who toured in stock with Griffith twenty-five years ago, is seen in the picture as the stately Mrs. Edwards, wife of the former Governor of Illinois and sister of Mary Todd, the prospective Mrs. Lin¬ coln. It is a revealing fact that most of the players selected for roles in this epic presentation of the life of the Emancipator are former stock artists of prominence. The cast of principals consists of Walter Huston, as “Lincoln”; Kay Hammond, as “Mary Todd Lincoln”; Una Merkel, as ‘‘Ann Rutledge”; Jason Robards, as “Herndon”; Ian Keith, as “John Wilkes Booth”; Ho¬ bart Bosworth, as “Lee”; Frank Cam¬ peau, as “Sheridan,” and Lucille La Verne, as the matron at Lincoln’s birth. He thinks he is lucky. Griffith, however, attributes Hus¬ ton’s phenomenal strides in motion pictures to sheer ability. He points out that the actor has had the same remarkable success in the last five plays in which he starred on Broad¬ way. “Abraham Lincoln” was dialogued by Stephen Vincent Benet, Pulitzer prize poet and novelist. In the cast of 112 principals with Huston are Kay Hammond, as “Mary Todd Lincoln”; Una Merkel, as “Ann Rutledge”; Ian Keith, as “John Wilkes Booth”; Jason Robards, as “Herndon”; Hobart Bos¬ worth, as “Robert E. Lee”; Frank Campeau, as “Phil. Sheridan,” and Lu¬ cille La Verne, playing an important character role. Walter Huston*s Four Film Appearances In Year and a Half Make Him Ace Star