Wow! Such a good movie.

A different way of telling a story

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

The name of D.W.Griffith dates back to the silent era. To date, all his films possessed definite trademarks, such as grandeur, spectacle and adherence to entertainment. This early Black and White film called " Abraham Lincoln " was created back in 1930. For the true movie fan, the hissing background noise, poor soundtrack and uneven movie cuts are to be accepted as original efforts. The film does take literary license with the story of Abraham Lincoln (Walter Huston) and features his life story in several segments beginning with his birth in the now famous log Cabin, story teller, sparking Ann Rutledge, rail splitting, practicing law, to the spirited debate with Steven Douglas and commander of the Union forces during the civil war. Through all, the director creates a majestic film tapestry of the 16th president of the U. S. and a movie Classic in it's own right. ****

This is the story Of President Abraham Lincoln from his birth to his assassination. We see him grow up and become a wild character and we see him fall in love only to lose her to death and then struggle for a long time trying to get over her. We see him fall for another woman and how she helped him get to become one of the greatest presidents of our time. We get to see the civil war start and him stand his ground to preserve the union and make this country one country truly united and to free slavery. We see how one angry actor who stood against Linclons views took his life and destroyed a good man, but his legacy and the things he stood for as president lived on.I knew some of the basics about Abe from school, but here the way he was presented I gained much more respect for the man. The guy playing him did such a wonderful job. I must admit all of the actors here were so amazing. This is an old movie but it was just a beautiful thing to set through.D.W. Griffith is one of the great directors of our time, In 1930 there was maybe only 1 other person that could compare and that was Fritz Lang. Griffiths work here is ace. I loved the shots, I loved the way they were set up and shot and his editor did a fine job as well. The sound was bad, but it was old and I have a cheap DVD version of it so it is possible a better version is available.So from a great story, to the beautiful direction and great acting and even the aging of Lincoln, I must say this was a great film... If you like movies about history, or are a fan of films from the early days of cinema, then this is for you. I liked it and give it 4/10 stars. Thats pretty good coming from me, Im the hardest movie critic to please.

Abraham Lincoln (1930) ** 1/2 (out of 4) D.W. Griffith's film about Abraham Lincoln (Walter Huston) who we see from his early days through the hearbreak of Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel) and his rise to be the President of the United States.It's surprising to watch ABRAHAM LINCOLN today and know that back in the day most of the major critics called it a great film with many of them including it as one of the year's best films. It was hailed by critics as Griffith's major comeback but it didn't result in box office numbers and the legendary director would only make one more film. It's interesting to note that some of the Lincoln story-line was used in the director's THE BIRTH OF A NATION and that film was re-released in a sound version the same year this here was released. You have to wonder if more people went to that over this new film.The biggest problem that I had with this film was the story itself and the way it was told. I'm not going to bash the fake parts of the story too much as these bio films are often full of re-written history. The problem with me is that the narrative was all over the place and there really wasn't a good flow to any of it. It seems like bits and pieces were just picked from the story, filmed and then thrown together without Griffith trying to make a complete story or any type of flow to the material.It's really too bad that the story is all over the place because we do get some nice performances including Huston in the lead role. It's funny and rather uncanny how much he looks like Lincoln here and for the most part I thought he did a respectable job in the role. Another problem with the film is the fact that Griffith certainly didn't update his "style" from what you'd see from his early days. He certainly didn't want to go with the times and the film really looks and feel like something from the 1910s and not from 1930.With that said, ABRAHAM LINCOLN does work as a minor film. The performances are good enough to save it and the ending with the assassination is quite good even if it falls well short of what we saw in THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

D.W. Griffith's ABRAHAM LINCOLN is a decidedly underwhelming film. What it has is excellent, but it doesn't take the next step in showing who the historical and controversial president was. I liked the film as far as it went, but I just felt more could be done to better explain things. I felt like the film got everything right on a technical level, and I definitely got into the character of Abraham Lincoln, but not as much as i wanted to be. Some people were disappointed with Brian DePalma's brilliant mob film, THE UNTOUCHABLES for not showing enough of Al Capone. I loved that film, but i think i understand their pain now that I've watched this. I mean sure, you see plenty of Abraham Lincoln in this, but you don't get enough of a sense of who he is. This film traces his life from his birth through his childhood, and then to his presidency, and then to his assassination. The film doesn't rush through these, but simply feeds these details to the viewer in a very honest and thorough way. I especially enjoyed the middle section of the film where Walter Huston really lets loose with his characterization, and yet personalizes it in such neat ways. I felt the slavery scenes were more tough to sit through then usual, especially for a film made in that decade. I loved the dark, sinister mood of the film and how D.W. Griffith is so able to use human actions to tell a story rather then have the actors spell everything out, but in the end, I wanted more.