Review of Abe Lincoln in Illinois

I thought much of this movie, especially the first half, was dry and a bit dull. Raymond Massey overdoes the country bumpkin thing in portraying Abraham Lincoln in the years before he jumped into the political fray, and his attempts to portray him as a regular Joe result in him coming off as a simpleton. But the movie, and Massey's performance, improves greatly when Lincoln becomes the reluctant hero, and there are a couple of stirring speeches, especially Lincoln's matter of fact debate against Steven Douglas, where Lincoln pretty much says he doesn't want to befriend black people but he thinks they deserve equality in the eyes of the law, that showcase why Massey received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance.

"Abe Lincoln in Illinois" was shown on TCM as part of a tribute to cinematographer James Wong Howe, who also received an Oscar nomination for this film. The dissection of his camera work was fascinating and made me appreciate things about it I wouldn't have otherwise. To be honest, without that, I probably would have thought the photography in this film was pretty pedestrian.

This was the first time I'd ever seen Ruth Gordon as a younger actress, and she's good as Mary Todd Lincoln. By accident, I had happened to watch "The Hurricane" right before this movie, which features Massey, and "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet" right after, which features Gordon, so I ended up creating a logical little flow to my classic movie viewing without even trying.

Grade: B+