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Abraham Lincoln and the Movies

2011; Routledge; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14664658.2011.594651

1743-7903

Melvyn Stokes,

Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

Abstract Comparatively little work has been done on how Abraham Lincoln has been represented in American cinema. Yet movies have been a major – and during the first half of the twentieth century probably the major – influence on how his memory has been constructed in American popular culture. This article analyzes changing representations of Lincoln on screen, showing that differing cinematic constructions of the sixteenth president were shaped by a range of factors, including popular biographies and the biases of directors. They also echoed salient issues of the era in which they were produced and more general changes in American attitudes. Keywords: Abraham Lincolnfilmmemorypopular culturereceptionclemencyreconciliationemancipationeconomic depressionchanging perceptions Notes 1. Blight, Race and Reunion; Blight, Beyond the Battlefield. 2. Gallagher, Causes Won, Lost and Forgotten. 3. Peterson, Lincoln in American Memory. 4. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory; Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Age. 5. Peterson devotes one paragraph to the depiction of Lincoln in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). He wrongly describes (344) the biopic of Lincoln made by the Rockett brothers and directed by Phil Rosen in 1924 “as the first attempt to film an American life.” He briefly recounts aspects of the treatment of Lincoln in five other films. Peterson, Lincoln in American Memory, 169–70, 344–6. In Schwartz's first volume, the only film dealing with Lincoln to be discussed is The Birth of a Nation. The second volume refers briefly to the references to Lincoln in Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and to the “biographical” films by Phil Rosen (The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1924); D.W. Griffith (Abraham Lincoln, 1930); John Ford (Young Mr. Lincoln, 1939), and John Cromwell (Abe Lincoln in Illinois, 1940. This comparative neglect of movies is surprising, since Schwartz himself comments that “millions of people bought tickets for Young Mr. Lincoln.” Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 220–21; Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Post-Heroic Age, 156–7, 270–2, quotation from 271. Neither Peterson nor Schwartz analyze the filmic representations of Lincoln in any detail. 6. Thompson, Abraham Lincoln, 190–240. Mark S. Reinhart's annotated guide to Lincoln films over much the same period is less thorough than Thompson's, and the comments on individual films address a limited range of issues, including how well the role of Lincoln is played and whether the film is “correct” in its representation of history. Reinhart, Abraham Lincoln on Screen. Both Thompson and CitationReinhart cover television films and documentaries as well as motion pictures. The present article concentrates only on movies for practical reasons (the subject is already a large one; the modes of production and conditions of reception of television programs are different from those of movies) and personal ones (the writer is a cinema historian). 7. Roman, “Lincoln on the Screen”; Jackson, “Abraham Lincoln,” 175–9. 8. Turley, “A Usable Life”; Neely, “The Young Lincoln”; CitationPipolo, “Hero or Demagogue?” 9. Rommel-Ruiz, “Redeeming Lincoln, Redeeming the South”; CitationPiasecki, “Abraham Lincoln in John Ford's The Iron Horse.” 10. Goldman, Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, 13. 11. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 70; Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered, 149. 12. CitationNicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln; Peterson, Lincoln in American Memory, 119, 126. 13. For a list of these films, see Thompson, Abraham Lincoln, 190–5. 14. CitationWilson, “McClure's Magazine” and the Muckrakers, 74. 15. Herndon and Weik, Herndon's Lincoln. Also see Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 157–8. 16. CitationTarbell, Life of Abraham Lincoln; CitationTomkins, Ida M. Tarbell, 43–51; Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 159–60. 17. See Merritt, “Rescued from a Perilous Nest,” 21; Schickel, D. W. Griffith and the Birth of Film, 51. 18. Mark, “Abraham Lincoln's Clemency,” Variety, November 12, 1910, 16. 19. Reinhart, Abraham Lincoln on Screen, 54–5. 20. Gienapp, Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America, 185; CitationDonald, Lincoln, 567. 21. “Lieutenant Grey of the Confederacy,” The Moving Picture World 10, no. 8 (November 25, 1911), 637. 22. CitationSpears, Civil War on the Screen, 67; CitationThompson, Abraham Lincoln, 16. 23. “Ford's,” Star [Baltimore], April 11, 1916, D.W. Griffith Papers, Library of Congress; “American Theater Notes,” Christian Science Monitor [Boston], August 18, 1915, Griffith Papers; “‘Birth of a Nation’ at Grand Another Week,” Kansas City Post, November 19, 1915, Griffith Papers; “Picture in Fourth Week,” Times-Picayune [New Orleans], April 2, 1916, Griffith Papers; Carl E. Milliken to Will W. Alexander, August 9, 1930, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Papers, Library of Congress. 24. Schickel, D. W. Griffith, 551. 25. The “conquered provinces” phrase was associated with Thaddeus Stevens, the Radical congressional leader from Pennsylvania on whom Stoneman's fictional character was based. 26. Foner, Forever Free, 79; Foner, Fiery Trial, 331, 333. 27. Claude G. Bowers in The Tragic Era (1929) – a book that like Griffith's film saw Radical Reconstruction as a disaster – quoted a Georgian as saying something very similar: “Then God help us! If [Lincoln's death] is true, it is the worst blow that has yet been struck the South.” Rommel-Ruiz, “Redeeming Lincoln,” 86. 28. See CitationRogin, “‘The Sword Became a Flashing Vision,’” 281. 29. CitationBlight, Race and Reunion, 87, 201–5, 216. 30. Smith, Spanish-American War, 102; Freidel, Splendid Little War, 33. 31. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 221–2. 32. The first Africans to arrive in the British colonies in America seemingly were the 20 who landed at Jamestown, Virginia, from a Dutch frigate in 1619 – 12 years after the founding of Jamestown itself and a year before the Pilgrim Fathers sailed on the Mayflower. The idea of the existence of a white “Eden” before the arrival of Africans is unsustainable. See Franklin and Moss, From Slavery to Freedom, 56. 33. See CitationStokes, D. W. Griffith's “The Birth of a Nation”, chap. 5. 34. Marks, Farewell, We're Good and Gone; Kessner, Golden Door, 24–6; CitationDaniels, Politics of Prejudice. 35. Jones, Limits of Liberty, 412. 36. Kitty Kelly, “Flickerings from Filmland – Why Don't Chicago Managers Do This,” Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1915; “Birth of a Nation Justifies Praise,” Kansas City Journal, October 25, 1915; “Hosts of People Seeing ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” Marrett Weekly, January 27, 1916; G.B.D., “The Birth of a Nation,” Battle Creek Morning Journal [Michigan], February 4, 1916; all in David W. Griffith Papers, Library of Congress. 37. Schwartz, Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 2; Foner, Reconstruction, 6. For a revisionist view of Lincoln's ideas on colonization, see CitationVorenberg, “Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Black Colonization.” 38. While this sequence was later removed, a number of film critics attested to its existence. See W. Stephen Bush in The Moving Picture World 23 (March 13, 1915), 1586–87 and Francis Hackett in The New Republic 7 (March 20, 1915), 185, both reprinted in Lang, Birth of a Nation, 178, 162. 39. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 264. 40. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory., 286. 41. The first bio-pic featuring Lincoln had been released by Essanay in 1908. Although only a one-reeler, a reviewer praised it as covering “nearly every period” of Lincoln's life. Frank Wiesberg, “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” Variety, October 17, 1908, 11. In 1915, Edison produced The Life of Abraham Lincoln, a two-reel picture. 42. “The Screen – Lincoln's Life,” The New York Times, January 22, 1924, 17; Fred, “Abraham Lincoln,” Variety, January 24, 1924, 26; Foner, Fiery Trial, 297. 43. “The Screen – Lincoln's Life,” The New York Times, January 22, 1924, 17; Fred, “Abraham Lincoln,” Variety, January 24, 1924, 26; Marion, as quoted in CitationBrownlow, “First Film on Lincoln,” 10. 44. Reviewers commented that it had “all the elements that make for a box-office success” and drew attention to the innovative methods used in publicizing it. Fred, “The Iron Horse,” Variety, September 3, 1924, 23; “The Iron Horse,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 2 (Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992), September 6, 1924, 143. 45. Piasecki, “Abraham Lincoln in John Ford's The Iron Horse,” 64. 46. Piasecki, “Abraham Lincoln in John Ford's The Iron Horse,”., 65. 47. Piasecki, “Abraham Lincoln in John Ford's The Iron Horse,”., 67–71. 48. Place, “A Family in a Ford,” 46. 49. CitationStover, American Railroads, 69, 74–6, 105–6. 50. Piasecki, “Abraham Lincoln in John Ford's The Iron Horse,” 73. 51. “The Screen – The Iron Horse,” New York Times, August 29, 1924, 6. 52. Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. 53. CitationTurley, “Usable Life,” 59–60. 54. Lennig, “‘There is a Tragedy,’” 45. 55. Arthur Lennig comments that the dullness of the “debates” was worsened by “the series of slow dissolves linking them.” Lennig, “There is a Tragedy,” 63. 56. For a discussion of Lincoln's use of the first person plural, see Field, “Abraham Lincoln and the First Person Plural.” 57. Singing blacks, of course, emerged as one of the earliest tropes of sound-era cinema. King Vidor had directed an all-black musical, Hallelujah, for MGM in 1929. 58. “Abraham Lincoln,” Variety, August 27, 1930, 21; Mordaunt Hall, “The Screen – Mr. Griffith's First Talker,” New York Times, August 26, 1930, 24; “Abraham Lincoln,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 4 (Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992), September 6, 1930, 142; Schickel, D. W. Griffith, 557. 59. Griffith quoted by Edmund Rucker, cited in Lennig, “There is a Tragedy,” 67. 60. Schickel, D. W. Griffith, 554–6. Arthur Lennig offers an alternative explanation for the inferiority of the assassination sequence: all the shots had to be completed on the final day of production. Lennig, “There is a Tragedy,” 56. 61. CitationPetric, “Two Lincoln Assassinations,” 347. 62. Schickel, D. W. Griffith, 558–9. 63. Andre Sennwald, “The Screen – Charles Laughton as a Famed Gentleman's Gentleman in ‘Ruggles of Red Gap,’ at the Paramount,” New York Times, March 7, 1935, 26 (quotation); Kauf, “Ruggles of Red Gap,” Variety, March 13, 1935, 15; “‘Ruggles of Red Gap’ with Charles Laughton, Charles Ruggles and Mary Boland,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 6 (Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992), February 16, 1935, 27. 64. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Motion Picture Herald, October 7, 1939, 35. 65. Andre Sennwald, “The Littlest Rebel,” New York Times, December 20, 1935, 30. 66. ‘“Of Human Hearts’ with James Stewart, Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 7 (Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992), February 26, 1938, 35. 67. So far as American filmmakers were concerned, the last volumes in Sandburg's biography (The War Years, 4 vols, 1939) had considerably less influence. 68. Turley, “Usable Life,” 61. 69. Donald, Lincoln, 150–1; Neely, “Young Lincoln,” 124; Eggleston, The Graysons. 70. Neely, “Young Lincoln,” 124. 71. So deftly did Alice Brady play the role of Abigail Clay that the Variety critic observed that “it's almost her picture.” Variety, June 7, 1939, 12. 72. Abel, “Paradigmatic Structures in Young Mr. Lincoln,” 25. 73. The mob sequence in the film was consistent with Lincoln's own views. In 1838, worried by violent attacks on abolitionists, he had delivered a speech criticizing mob violence to the Young Men's Lyceum in Springfield. Pipolo, “Hero or Demagogue?” 21. 74. CitationWexman, “Right and Wrong; That's [Not] All There Is To It!” 27. 75. Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. 76. Frank S. Nugent, “Young Mr. Lincoln,” New York Times, June 3, 1939, 11; “Young Mr. Lincoln with Henry Fonda,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 7, June 17, 1939, 94; Abel, “Young Mr. Lincoln,” Variety, June 7, 1939, 12. 77. CitationAbel, “Young Mr. Lincoln.” 78. Edelstein Amusement Co., Homer Theatre, Hibbing, Minnesota, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, March 9, 1940, 71; Jim Haney, Milan Theatre, Milan, Indiana, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, October 7, 1939, 57; C. H. Collier, Globe Theatre, Drew, Mississippi, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, October 28, 1939, 66; J.E. Stocker, Myrtle Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, January 13, 1940, 46. 79. “Abe Lincoln in Illinois – Showmen's Reviews,” Motion Picture Herald, January 23, 1940, 50; Flin, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” Variety, January 24, 1940, 14; Frank S. Nugent, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” New York Times, February 23, 1940, 19; “Abe Lincoln in Illinois with Raymond Massey, Ruth Gordon and Gene Lockhart,” Harrison Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 7, January 20, 1940, 11. 80. Herndon, as quoted in CitationThomas, “Lincoln's Humor” and Other Essays, xlii, n. 34. 81. Nugent, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” New York Times, February 23, 1940, 19. 82. Massey, Hundred Different Lives, 253–4. 83. The one exception to this is in Lincoln's critique of the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in his filmic campaign “debate” with Stephen A. Douglas. He attacks the fact that the Dred Scott decision defines blacks only as property. 84. Turley, “Usable Life,” 63–4; Nugent, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” New York Times, February 23, 1940, 19; “Abe Lincoln in Illinois with Raymond Massey, Ruth Gordon and Gene Lockhart,” Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews, vol. 7, January 20, 1940, 11. 85. Flin, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” Variety, January 24, 1940, 14. 86. “Abe Lincoln in Illinois – Showmen's Reviews,” Motion Picture Herald, January 23, 1940, 50. 87. In April 1939, Sherwood had launched a legal challenge against Twentieth-Century Fox alleging that Young Mr. Lincoln had plagiarized his own play and was an attempt “to reap undeserved financial gain” from its success. Reinhart, Abraham Lincoln on Screen, 25. 88. C.W. Mills, Arcade Theatre, Sodus, New York, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, September 7, 1940, 51; Joe Schindele, Granite Theatre, Granite Falls, Minnesota, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, August 3, 1940, 52; M.R. Harrington, Avalon Theatre, Clatskanie, Oregon, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, June 22, 1940, 68; Alex Slendak, St. Clair Theatre, St. Clair, Michigan, “What the Picture Did for Me,” Motion Picture Herald, May 25, 1940, 58. 89. CitationPeterson, Lincoln in American Memory, 312. 90. Thompson lists Rock Island Trail and Transcontinent Express as different 1950 pictures. The film was the same, but it was retitled as Transcontinent Express. 91. See, for example, Lincoln in Illinois (State of Illinois, 1950); Abraham Lincoln (Emerson Film Corporation/Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1951); The Face of Lincoln (University of Southern California/Cavalcade Pictures, 1955). On the Gettysburg Address, see Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg (A.F. Films, 1950); Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Sterling Films, 1951); Lincoln at Gettysburg (Pathé News, 1960); Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Charlton Heston, 1973). Nor Long Remember (Jam Handy Organization, 1940) combined a scene of Lincoln (Sam Slade) delivering the Gettysburg Address with a group of people the next day discussing the impact of the speech. 92. Lincoln provided much of the inspiration for the King in Anna and the King of Siam (Twentieth-Century Fox, 1946); cf. The King and I (Twentieth-Century Fox, 1956), the animated film with the same title (Morgan Creek Productions, 1999) and Anna and the King (Fox 2000 Productions, 1999). See, for example, The Battle of Gettysburg (MGM, 1955). This category could also include Bébé's Kids (Hyperion Pictures, 1992), an animated film in which Pete Renaday played the voice of Abraham Lincoln. 93. Thomas Cripps argues that most of those that were made, with few exceptions, preferred to present the war as a unifying epic and consequently ignored the issue of race. Cripps, “Absent Presence.” Also see Stokes, “Civil War in the Movies.” 94. Kim CitationNewman writes of “the Western's obsession with the Civil War.” Newman, Wild West Movies, 28. 95. CitationCripps, “Absent Presence,” 371–2. 96. CitationCoates, In Nature's Defence, 26. 97. Richard CitationCorliss, “The Conspirator: Abraham Lincoln's 9/11,” Time Magazine, September 17, 2010, http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2019832,00.html (accessed 8 March 2011). 98. In these three films, Lincoln was respectively played by Richard Craycroft, Richard Blake, and Charles L. Brame. 99. Foner, Our Lincoln, 270. 100. Since Citation2001, Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks SKG studio has been working on a new biopic of Lincoln. The production of the film, now tentatively scheduled for fall 2011, has already been postponed numerous times. The delay suggests the difficulties involved in constructing a screen Lincoln for the twenty-first century. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/19/daniel-day-lewis-spielberg-lincoln (accessed March 9, 2011). 101. Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory, 2.