Movie Cosmos - Abraham Lincoln

Description:

A biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining chapters: his romance with Ann Rutledge; his early years as a country lawyer; his marriage to Mary Todd; his debates with Stephen A. Douglas; the election of 1860; his presidency during the Civil War; and his assassination in Ford’s Theater in 1865.

Top Cast >

Walter Huston

As Abraham Lincoln

Una Merkel

As Ann Rutledge

William L. Thorne

As Tom Lincoln

Lucille La Verne

As Mid-Wife

Helen Freeman

As Nancy Hanks Lincoln

Otto Hoffman

As Offut

Edgar Dearing

As Armstrong

Russell Simpson

As Lincoln's Employer

Charles Crockett

As Sheriff

Kay Hammond

As Mary Todd Lincoln

Helen Ware

As Mrs. Edwards

E. Alyn Warren

As Stephen A. Douglas / General Grant

Jason Robards Sr.

As Herndon

Gordon Thorpe

As Tad Lincoln

Ian Keith

As John Wilkes Booth

Cameron Prud'Homme

As John Hay - Secretary to the President

James Bradbury Sr.

As Gen. Winfield Scott

James Eagles

As Young Soldier

Oscar Apfel

As Secretary of War Stanton

Frank Campeau

As General Sheridan

Hobart Bosworth

As General Robert E. Lee

Henry B. Walthall

As Colonel Marshall

Hank Bell

As Townsman in Offut's Store (uncredited)

Maurice Black

As Conspirator (uncredited)

Ed Brady

As Confederate Courier (uncredited)

Robert Brower

As (uncredited)

Kernan Cripps

As Conspirator (uncredited)

Mary Forbes

As Actress (uncredited)

Francis Ford

As Sheridan's Aide (uncredited)

Robert Homans

As A Senator - One of Lincoln's Advisors (uncredited)

Jane Keckley

As Matchmaker (uncredited)

Robert Keith

As Union Courier (uncredited)

Henry Kolker

As New Englander (uncredited)

Ralph Lewis

As Member of Lincoln's Cabinet (uncredited)

George MacQuarrie

As Member of Lincoln's Cabinet (uncredited)

Scott Seaton

As Minor Role (uncredited)

Carl Stockdale

As Member of Lincoln's Cabinet (uncredited)

Harry Stubbs

As Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Kathrin Clare Ward

As Townswoman at Ann's Death (uncredited)

Top Crew >

D.W. Griffith

Director

Stephen Vincent Benet

Adaptation, Dialogue

John W. Considine Jr.

Story

Gerrit J. Lloyd

Dialogue

Orville O. Dull

Production Manager

Hugo Riesenfeld

Music

Hal C. Kern

Editorial Coordinator

James Smith

Editor

Harold Witt

Sound Engineer

Walter J. Israel

Costume Design

Raymond A. Klune

Production Office Coordinator

Herbert Sutch

Production Office Coordinator

Karl Struss

Director of Photography

Joseph M. Schenck

Producer

William Cameron Menzies

Settings

Reviews:

CinemaSerf (6/10)

"Personally" directed by D. W. Griffith, this is a rather condensed version of the adult life of Abraham Lincoln. From his early life in the Kentucky backwoods where he grew up and his first love perished, through to his galvanising speech making, his election to the US Presidency followed by his decision to emancipate slaves eliciting a war that threatened his country with self-destruction before earning praise and enmity from his emergent and still divided nation. Walter Huston takes on the lead role and is about as wooden an actor as it's possible to get. Indeed, much of this looks and feels like it was a silent film with long, lingering, photography and a distinct paucity of dialogue until it livens up a bit towards the well documented denouement. Kay Hammond breathes a little life into affairs as his wife "Mary Todd" but for the most part this is a rather dry and all too adulatory, rose-tinted, biopic of a man we just don't have time to get to know as ninety minutes wings by. It's watchable, but really only as a "Janet and John" guide to this 13th President.

2024-01-11