Young Mr. Lincoln
| Young Mr. Lincoln | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
|
| 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) |
| IMDb profile | |
Young Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 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.
Synopsis
The story takes place in Lincoln's early days, just as he's starting out as a lawyer in Springfield. But soon after arrival he's involved in defending two young men accused of murder, and the only witness to the crime is someone who claimed to have seen it under the light of a full moon...
A family traveling through New Salem in their covered 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. He talks about his ambitions with a young woman, Ann Rutledge. She dies. He moves to nearby Springfield, the new state capital, and opens a law office with a friend. He meets a young woman visiting from Kentucky, who wasn't born in a log cabin, Mary Todd. Then when a man is killed at a 4th of July picnic he stops a lynching by telling the angry mob he really needs these clients for his first real case.
Trivia
- 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 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.
- Screenwriter Lamar Trotti was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.
External links
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