Young Mr. Lincoln

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Young Mr. Lincoln
Directed by	John Ford
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Written by	Lamar Trotti
Starring	Henry Fonda Alice Brady Marjorie Weaver Richard Cromwell Donald Meek Eddie Quillan Ward Bond
Music by	Alfred Newman David Buttolph Edward B. Powell Louis Silvers Paul Van Loan
Cinematography	Bert Glennon Arthur C. Miller
Editing by	Walter Thompson
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	May 30, 1939
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
Budget	$1,500,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Young Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 fictionalized biography/drama film about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought for control of the film, to the point where Ford destroyed unwanted takes for fear the studio would use them in the movie. Screenwriter Lamar Trotti was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing/Original Story.

In 2003, Young Mr. Lincoln was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[edit] Plot

A family traveling through New Salem in their wagon need groceries from Lincoln's store and the only thing of value they have that he'll take in exchange is a law book. After thoroughly reading the book, Abe opts for the law after receiving encouragement from his early, ill-fated love, Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore). Too poor to own even a horse, he arrives in Springfield on a mule and soon establishes a law practice with friend John Stuart (Edwin Maxwell). At a July 4th celebration, a man is murdered in a brawl, and the accused are two brothers of a family that Lincoln knows. He stops the lynching of the two accused at the jail by telling the angry mob he really needs these clients for his first real case. The only witness to the crime is someone who claimed to have seen it under the light of a full moon. Admiring his courage, Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver) invites him to her sister's soiree and expresses an intense interest in his future.

Lincoln eventually gets the two brothers off by finding out who the real killer was and then decides to head on out of Springfield and move on.

[edit] Movie facts

• Henry Fonda originally didn't want the part, stating that he didn't feel right playing such a great man, but changed his mind when he was asked to see what he would look like in makeup and liked the results so much that he said once in an interview that it was like if he had portrayed Christ on film.
• The film also began the career of one of Hollywood's great character actors, Ward Bond.
• The film has as its basis the murder case involving William "Duff" Armstrong, which took place in Springfield in 1857.
• A scene cut from the film involved Lincoln meeting a very young John Wilkes Booth, his future assassin.
• Ironically, this film was an inspiration for Soviet filmmaker and propagandist Sergei Eisenstein and his film Ivan the Terrible.

[edit] External links

• Young Mr. Lincoln at the Internet Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Geoffrey O'Brien

v • d • e The films of John Ford 1910s The Tornado • The Fighting Gringo • The Trail of Hate • The Scrapper • Cheyenne's Pal • The Soul Herder • Straight Shooting • The Secret Man • A Marked Man • Bucking Broadway • The Phantom Riders • Wild Women • Thieves' Gold • The Scarlet Drop • Hell Bent • A Woman's Fool • The Craving (with Francis Ford) • Three Mounted Men • Roped • The Fighting Brothers • A Fight for Love • Rustlers • Bare Fists • Gun Law • By Indian Post • The Gun Packer • Riders of Vengeance • The Last Outlaw • The Outcasts of Poker Flat • Ace of the Saddle • Rider of the Law • A Gun Fightin' Gentleman • Marked Men 1920s The Prince of Avenue A • The Girl in Number 29 • Hitchin' Posts • Just Pals • The Big Punch • The Freeze-Out • The Wallop • Desperate Trails • Action • Sure Fire • Jackie • Little Miss Smiles • Silver Wings (with Edwin Carewe) • The Village Blacksmith • The Face on the Bar-Room Floor • Three Jumps Ahead • Cameo Kirby • North of Hudson Bay • Hoodman Blind • Hearts of Oak • Lightnin' • Kentucky Pride • Thank You • The Fighting Heart • The Shamrock Handicap • 3 Bad Men • Upstream • Four Sons • Napoleon's Barber • Strong Boy • The Black Watch 1930s Men Without Women • Born Reckless • Up the River • Seas Beneath • The Brat • Arrowsmith • Airmail • Pilgrimage • Doctor Bull • The Lost Patrol • The World Moves On • Judge Priest • The Whole Town's Talking • The Informer • Steamboat Round the Bend • The Prisoner of Shark Island • Mary of Scotland • The Plough and the Stars • Wee Willie Winkie • The Hurricane • Four Men and a Prayer • Submarine Patrol • Stagecoach • Young Mr. Lincoln • Drums Along the Mohawk 1940s The Grapes of Wrath • The Long Voyage Home • Tobacco Road • How Green Was My Valley • They Were Expendable • My Darling Clementine • The Fugitive • Fort Apache • 3 Godfathers • Pinky • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1950s When Willie Comes Marching Home • Wagon Master • Rio Grande • The Quiet Man • What Price Glory? • The Sun Shines Bright • Mogambo • The Long Gray Line • Mister Roberts (with Mervyn LeRoy) • The Searchers • The Wings of Eagles • The Rising of the Moon • Gideon's Day The Last Hurrah • The Horse Soldiers 1960s Sergeant Rutledge • Two Rode Together • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance • How the West Was Won (with Henry Hathaway and George Marshall) • Donovan's Reef • Cheyenne Autumn • 7 Women Television "Fireside Theatre" (1949) • The Bamboo Cross (1955) • "Screen Directors Playhouse" (1955) • "Wagon Train" (1957-1965) Productions The Iron Horse (1924) • The Blue Eagle (1926) • Mother Machree (1928) • Hangman's House (1928) • Riley the Cop (1928) • Salute (1929) • Flesh (1932) • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) • Young Cassidy (1965) Documentaries Torpedo Squadron • Sex Hygiene (1942) • The Battle of Midway (1942) • December 7th (1943) • We Sail at Midnight (1943) • This Is Korea! (1951) • Korea (1959) • Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976)

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