At the beginning of April 1940, Frank S. Nugent resigned as chief film critic of The New York Times in order to pursue a career as a Hollywood screenwriter. (His last review, Rebecca, was published on 29 March.) His deputy, B.R. Crisler, took over for less than a month before Bosley Crowther, the paper's Hollywood correspondent, began his long reign in New York. This wrecked Abe Lincoln in Illinois's certainty of a place in the Times Ten Best. While agreeing that the film was "the best Lincoln picture the screen has ever had", Crowther felt it did not elevate screen biography to new heights, although it was certainly "fine and interesting". These comments fall a long way short of Nugent's endorsement which declared: "Although the Pulitzer committee may smile skeptically, we have no hesitation in calling the film the play's superior, in calling Raymond Massey's screen Lincoln better than his play's Lincoln, in finding it not only a more complete record of the man and his times, but a far more dramatic and a far more significant biography than the Pulitzer committee saw."
Other critics across the nation were equally enthusiastic: With 221 votes, the film placed 6th in the annual Film Daily poll.
COMMENT: One of the best films ever made, this movie features a brilliant performance from Raymond Massey in the title role. It's unbelievable that Massey missed out on Hollywood's most prestigious award. His Lincoln (repeated from the Broadway stage) is easily the most moving portrait of his entire screen career. It's true, as a few over-finicky critics have complained, his acting tends to be stagey and that the director occasionally seems to be forcing him to pose in carefully-wrought tableaux, but Massey brilliantly, forcefully overcomes all obstacles to make his Lincoln totally sincere, totally convincing (he may be too old for the early scenes, but no matter) and overwhelmingly sympathetic.
If you're in a fault-finding mood and you want to pick at a mannered performance, go no further than Ruth Gordon. Odd, quixotic, stagey she certainly is, but she's always an interesting player — and I like her!
More conventional but equally fascinating portrayals are etched by Gene Lockhart (an ever-reliable actor) and Roger Imhoff (a player who is not usually cast in such prominent roles — more's the pity). Also to be warmly commended are Aldrich Bowker, Mary Howard, Harlan Briggs and the unlisted actor (actually director Cromwell himself) who plays John Brown. All told, it's a grand cast, with many capable faces filling in the background.
Abe Lincoln has been most lavishly produced. It's anything but a photographed stage play. Grover Jones opened out the action of the play so that it's truly a colorful movie, and then Sherwood came back and filled in the dialogue. A perfect combination of writing talent which has resulted in a screenplay that is both full of incident and excitement, yet has dialogue effectively fired with humor, drama, even poetry and romance.
The make-up and costumes look incredibly realistic, while the sets and their appointments have a sparse, unHollywood lack of glamour and ornamentation which seems totally authentic. Not that the film looks bare — it is often crowded with people and is always appealingly and most attractively lit by James Wong Howe.
Cromwell's direction is most assured. It also has been criticized for being too stagey and too static, but a recent viewing of the film makes nonsense of these claims. True, Cromwell does effectively employ stage compositions — even tableaux — at times. But not only are these moving and dramatic in themselves (who could forget the picture's final scenes, or indeed the final shot of all as the train pulls out, carrying Lincoln to Washington? This is real emotion), but they are skillfully contrasted with scenes of vigorous action in which both camera and players move with a speed that is only possible in the cinema.
Roy Webb has provided a rousingly familiar, nonetheless stirring music score. Other technical credits are as proficient as unbounded Hollywood largess can make them.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is not the dry bones of history, but a living, moving portrait that is as vital and relevantly dramatic in 2015 as it was 75 years ago. Sherwood has not penned a museum piece, but a convincing, fascinating, well-rounded and, above all, deeply sympathetic picture that will live for all time. In fact, the more times I see the movie, the more I enjoy it. After viewing the superb Warner Brothers DVD, I regard it as one of the best movies Hollywood ever made. Certainly Raymond Massey rendered one of the all-time great performances of the cinema.
Despite its great entertainment qualities and the plaudits of most critics, the film was not overly popular on first release. RKO's initial domestic loss was nearly $750,000 and it seemed the film would in no way duplicate the success of the play which opened on Broadway on 15 October 1938 for a highly profitable run of no less than 472 performances. Oddly enough, the picture proved more popular overseas, playing with great success in England and Australia. For example, it was aired at least 30 times on Oz television, making it one of the most frequently-seen RKO releases of the 1940's.
Other critics across the nation were equally enthusiastic: With 221 votes, the film placed 6th in the annual Film Daily poll.
COMMENT: One of the best films ever made, this movie features a brilliant performance from Raymond Massey in the title role. It's unbelievable that Massey missed out on Hollywood's most prestigious award. His Lincoln (repeated from the Broadway stage) is easily the most moving portrait of his entire screen career. It's true, as a few over-finicky critics have complained, his acting tends to be stagey and that the director occasionally seems to be forcing him to pose in carefully-wrought tableaux, but Massey brilliantly, forcefully overcomes all obstacles to make his Lincoln totally sincere, totally convincing (he may be too old for the early scenes, but no matter) and overwhelmingly sympathetic.
If you're in a fault-finding mood and you want to pick at a mannered performance, go no further than Ruth Gordon. Odd, quixotic, stagey she certainly is, but she's always an interesting player — and I like her!
More conventional but equally fascinating portrayals are etched by Gene Lockhart (an ever-reliable actor) and Roger Imhoff (a player who is not usually cast in such prominent roles — more's the pity). Also to be warmly commended are Aldrich Bowker, Mary Howard, Harlan Briggs and the unlisted actor (actually director Cromwell himself) who plays John Brown. All told, it's a grand cast, with many capable faces filling in the background.
Abe Lincoln has been most lavishly produced. It's anything but a photographed stage play. Grover Jones opened out the action of the play so that it's truly a colorful movie, and then Sherwood came back and filled in the dialogue. A perfect combination of writing talent which has resulted in a screenplay that is both full of incident and excitement, yet has dialogue effectively fired with humor, drama, even poetry and romance.
The make-up and costumes look incredibly realistic, while the sets and their appointments have a sparse, unHollywood lack of glamour and ornamentation which seems totally authentic. Not that the film looks bare — it is often crowded with people and is always appealingly and most attractively lit by James Wong Howe.
Cromwell's direction is most assured. It also has been criticized for being too stagey and too static, but a recent viewing of the film makes nonsense of these claims. True, Cromwell does effectively employ stage compositions — even tableaux — at times. But not only are these moving and dramatic in themselves (who could forget the picture's final scenes, or indeed the final shot of all as the train pulls out, carrying Lincoln to Washington? This is real emotion), but they are skillfully contrasted with scenes of vigorous action in which both camera and players move with a speed that is only possible in the cinema.
Roy Webb has provided a rousingly familiar, nonetheless stirring music score. Other technical credits are as proficient as unbounded Hollywood largess can make them.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is not the dry bones of history, but a living, moving portrait that is as vital and relevantly dramatic in 2015 as it was 75 years ago. Sherwood has not penned a museum piece, but a convincing, fascinating, well-rounded and, above all, deeply sympathetic picture that will live for all time. In fact, the more times I see the movie, the more I enjoy it. After viewing the superb Warner Brothers DVD, I regard it as one of the best movies Hollywood ever made. Certainly Raymond Massey rendered one of the all-time great performances of the cinema.
Despite its great entertainment qualities and the plaudits of most critics, the film was not overly popular on first release. RKO's initial domestic loss was nearly $750,000 and it seemed the film would in no way duplicate the success of the play which opened on Broadway on 15 October 1938 for a highly profitable run of no less than 472 performances. Oddly enough, the picture proved more popular overseas, playing with great success in England and Australia. For example, it was aired at least 30 times on Oz television, making it one of the most frequently-seen RKO releases of the 1940's.