Abraham Lincoln

1/11/2024

"Personally" directed by D. W. Griffith, this is a rather condensed version of the adult life of Abraham Lincoln. From his early life in the Kentucky backwoods where he grew up and his first love perished, through to his galvanising speech making, his election to the US Presidency followed by his decision to emancipate slaves eliciting a war that threatened his country with self-destruction before earning praise and enmity from his emergent and still divided nation. Walter Huston takes on the lead role and is about as wooden an actor as it's possible to get. Indeed, much of this looks and feels like it was a silent film with long, lingering, photography and a distinct paucity of dialogue until it livens up a bit towards the well documented denouement. Kay Hammond breathes a little life int