Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Directed by John Cromwell

Film Review

Adapted from a popular Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Robert E. Sherwood, Abe Lincoln in Illinois (a.k.a. Spirit of the People) is an informative, albeit somewhat lumbering, biography that faithfully recounts Abraham Lincoln's years up until the time when he was elected 16th President of the United States.  Raymond Massey recreates his acclaimed stage role with gusto and sincerity, portraying Lincoln not only as a great orator and man of the people, but also an ordinary man with an ordinary man's failings.  Massey seldom gave a more committed screen performance than he does here, in possibly his greatest film role.

John Cromwell's direction is perhaps a little too subservient to Sherwood's script, to the extent that the film lacks visual impact as it stirs the heart with the eloquence of its dialogue.  Coming hot on the heels of John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), which starred Henry Fonda, Lincoln in Illinois ought to have been a much bigger hit than it was.  In the event, it was a catastrophic failure, losing RKO almost 800 thousand dollars at the box office.  It may not have the ambition and scale of D.W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930). but it perhaps offers a deeper insight into who Abe Lincoln really was.

Film Synopsis

In the 1830s, a modest woodsman named Abe Lincoln leaves his home and his mother in  Kentucky to settle in New Salem, where he finds popularity as a store owner.  He falls in love with Ann Rutledge, daughter of an innkeeper, and, when her beau abandons her she does Abe the honour of marrying him.  Not long after Ann's premature death from brain fever, Abe gets himself elected as a representative on the State Assembly, but he sees no future for himself as a politician and instead becomes a lawyer in Illinois.  It is here that he meets socialite Mary Todd and once again falls in love.  Despite her family's objections, Mary marries Abe, convinced that she can guide him towards his political destiny...