If you are looking at this film purely for its entertainment and production values, it's not bad. However, I heartily agreed with the quote from Henry Fonda (who played Lincoln) that "I felt as if I were portraying Christ himself on film." The bottom line is that the film loses a lot of credibility because Lincoln is a caricature in the film--a man too pure, too good and too unlike us have been a real person. This silly super-humanness is made worse by the script--one that is the exact opposite of the old TV motto from "Dragnet". Instead of changing the names the protect the innocent, this film keeps the names but completely changes the facts to suit a Hollywood need to make Lincoln a saint. This is true in this film and is even more apparent in films like D. W. Griffith's dull biopic of Lincoln (1930).
The myths are many, but a few I'll tackle are Anne Rutledge and the trial that took up about 75% of the movie. As for Rutledge, historians will agree that Lincoln knew this lady--but as for a romance between them, most doubt this ever occurred. At the same time, there is a lot that we DO know about Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, but in this film she has almost no personality and has no impact on Abe. So, this is an odd case where a myth is promoted and a true story (the marriage) is omitted--even though it was VERY fascinating and could make a great movie in itself (Mary was an odd and rather crazy lady). As for the trial, it actually DID occur--but the events were very very different. And, you'd think that based on its title the film would have a lot more to do with Lincoln and his early life! So who is this film good for, then? Well, people who like somewhat dull biopics that are fictionalized would love this film and perhaps John Ford fans would like it--though ford himself was not happy about the project--much of it because the studio insisted on injecting some pretty sappy myths into it beyond what you already had in the original script. Frankly, I think a comic book version of Abe's life or even "Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" might be more informative!
The myths are many, but a few I'll tackle are Anne Rutledge and the trial that took up about 75% of the movie. As for Rutledge, historians will agree that Lincoln knew this lady--but as for a romance between them, most doubt this ever occurred. At the same time, there is a lot that we DO know about Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, but in this film she has almost no personality and has no impact on Abe. So, this is an odd case where a myth is promoted and a true story (the marriage) is omitted--even though it was VERY fascinating and could make a great movie in itself (Mary was an odd and rather crazy lady). As for the trial, it actually DID occur--but the events were very very different. And, you'd think that based on its title the film would have a lot more to do with Lincoln and his early life! So who is this film good for, then? Well, people who like somewhat dull biopics that are fictionalized would love this film and perhaps John Ford fans would like it--though ford himself was not happy about the project--much of it because the studio insisted on injecting some pretty sappy myths into it beyond what you already had in the original script. Frankly, I think a comic book version of Abe's life or even "Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" might be more informative!