If you compare John Cromwell's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" with John Ford's "Young Mister Lincoln" -- and how can you NOT -- you immediately notice both similarities and differences. Ford's movie appeared a year earlier but Sherwood's play had been around for a while and can probably be considered earlier.
Some isomorphisms are so conspicuous that it's likely that the craftsmen for Ford's movie lifted them from the play. Example: It just can't be coincidental that both movie have celebrants doing a polka to the same tune, which, we learn in "Young Mister Lincoln," is "Lovely Susan Brown." Even individual lines of dialog were shamelessly ripped off. If, in "Abe Lincoln in Illnois," Howard Da Silva boasts, "I'm the big buck of this lick," in "Young Mister Lincoln" the line is given to Jack Pennick.
Those similarities are superficial and in fact the differences turn them into two almost entirely different movies about the same subject. "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" is more of a biographical sketch that gives us far more of Lincoln's political rise, as well as his romances with Ann Rutledge and, later, Mary Todd. Ford's movie mostly sketches the character of Lincoln and then turns into a courtroom drama leavened with comic incidents.
Comparing the two leads, it can be said that Raymond Massey is a more convincing Lincoln than Henry Fonda. Massey simply looks more like the gangling Lincoln, even without Fonda's false nose. Also, for whatever reason, in this instance Massey gives a better performance. Some viewers might wince at Massey's quivering oratory during his debate with Stephen Douglas, but that was the custom at the time. (The film prunes this "house divided against itself" speech.)
But -- I'll try to keep this short -- aside from Cromwell's movie covering Lincoln's maturation from a slow youth to his departure with his new whiskers for Washington, while Ford's movie covers a much shorter time span and includes virtually no politics -- Ford's movie is helped immensely by Alfred Newman's multivaried musical score. The Anne Rutledge theme is simple, nostalgic, innocent, and elegant. There's nothing like it in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."
On top of that, Sherwood's narrative (he did the screenplay too) has more serious drama in it, including the conflict between the compliant and peaceable Lincoln and his fiery and ambitious wife, who was later to spend time in an insane asylum. We get far more than an occasional domestic squabble. Sherwood isn't afraid to hit us over the head with reality.
Ford, on the other hand, throws history out the window in favor of sentiment and even an attempt at art in some of the incidents and certainly in the photography and lighting. There are two instants of melancholy, both connected with Ann Rutledge's death, and one dramatic incident involving a possible lynching but, that aside, it's more comic than dramatic. Even the murder trial has several amusing moments. (Francis Ford, called for voir dire, puts aside his jug, stumbles to the bench, and pleads, "Guilty.") Massey may be the better performer but Ford is the more subtle director. During moments of gravitas, Cromwell's camera dollies in for a close up of Massey's face, obviously and unnecessarily drawing our attention to the fact that something important is going on, as Massey's voice hesitates before launching some impassioned pronouncement. Ford does it once, when a woman asks, "Who are you?" and Fonda replies, "I'm your lawyer, Ma'am." I'm not counting the end of Ford's movie when Fonda wanders off to the top of a distant hill under an El Greco sky full of menace. Cromwell spells it all out in a final farewell address to the people of Springfield, while Ford keeps it symbolic. (Kids: It's symbolic of the immanent Civil War, fought over slavery and state's rights, between the North and the South. A lot of people got hurt and the South was wrecked. The thunderstorm is a "symbol" because it "stands for" all that impending tumult.)
In the end, it's just about impossible to argue that one movie is generally better than the other because they're so different in their intent and execution. Let's call them "unordered variables."
I suppose, historically, the movie is kind to Mary Lincoln and her shopping sprees and family background. A TV movie starring Sam Waterston fills in some of the blanks.
Some isomorphisms are so conspicuous that it's likely that the craftsmen for Ford's movie lifted them from the play. Example: It just can't be coincidental that both movie have celebrants doing a polka to the same tune, which, we learn in "Young Mister Lincoln," is "Lovely Susan Brown." Even individual lines of dialog were shamelessly ripped off. If, in "Abe Lincoln in Illnois," Howard Da Silva boasts, "I'm the big buck of this lick," in "Young Mister Lincoln" the line is given to Jack Pennick.
Those similarities are superficial and in fact the differences turn them into two almost entirely different movies about the same subject. "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" is more of a biographical sketch that gives us far more of Lincoln's political rise, as well as his romances with Ann Rutledge and, later, Mary Todd. Ford's movie mostly sketches the character of Lincoln and then turns into a courtroom drama leavened with comic incidents.
Comparing the two leads, it can be said that Raymond Massey is a more convincing Lincoln than Henry Fonda. Massey simply looks more like the gangling Lincoln, even without Fonda's false nose. Also, for whatever reason, in this instance Massey gives a better performance. Some viewers might wince at Massey's quivering oratory during his debate with Stephen Douglas, but that was the custom at the time. (The film prunes this "house divided against itself" speech.)
But -- I'll try to keep this short -- aside from Cromwell's movie covering Lincoln's maturation from a slow youth to his departure with his new whiskers for Washington, while Ford's movie covers a much shorter time span and includes virtually no politics -- Ford's movie is helped immensely by Alfred Newman's multivaried musical score. The Anne Rutledge theme is simple, nostalgic, innocent, and elegant. There's nothing like it in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."
On top of that, Sherwood's narrative (he did the screenplay too) has more serious drama in it, including the conflict between the compliant and peaceable Lincoln and his fiery and ambitious wife, who was later to spend time in an insane asylum. We get far more than an occasional domestic squabble. Sherwood isn't afraid to hit us over the head with reality.
Ford, on the other hand, throws history out the window in favor of sentiment and even an attempt at art in some of the incidents and certainly in the photography and lighting. There are two instants of melancholy, both connected with Ann Rutledge's death, and one dramatic incident involving a possible lynching but, that aside, it's more comic than dramatic. Even the murder trial has several amusing moments. (Francis Ford, called for voir dire, puts aside his jug, stumbles to the bench, and pleads, "Guilty.") Massey may be the better performer but Ford is the more subtle director. During moments of gravitas, Cromwell's camera dollies in for a close up of Massey's face, obviously and unnecessarily drawing our attention to the fact that something important is going on, as Massey's voice hesitates before launching some impassioned pronouncement. Ford does it once, when a woman asks, "Who are you?" and Fonda replies, "I'm your lawyer, Ma'am." I'm not counting the end of Ford's movie when Fonda wanders off to the top of a distant hill under an El Greco sky full of menace. Cromwell spells it all out in a final farewell address to the people of Springfield, while Ford keeps it symbolic. (Kids: It's symbolic of the immanent Civil War, fought over slavery and state's rights, between the North and the South. A lot of people got hurt and the South was wrecked. The thunderstorm is a "symbol" because it "stands for" all that impending tumult.)
In the end, it's just about impossible to argue that one movie is generally better than the other because they're so different in their intent and execution. Let's call them "unordered variables."
I suppose, historically, the movie is kind to Mary Lincoln and her shopping sprees and family background. A TV movie starring Sam Waterston fills in some of the blanks.