There have been several movies over the years about our former President Abe Lincoln. There was Young Mr. Lincoln from 1939 starring Henry Fonda, a 2012 film called Lincoln starring Daniel-Day Lewis to name a couple. In 1940, Abe Lincoln in Illinois is another historical, biographical drama focusing on his life from his time in Kentucky until he was elected President.
Directed by John Cromwell and stars screen legend Raymond Massey (Things to Come, Arsenic and Old Lace) as Abraham Lincoln, the picture gives a good history of the former President, how he started to grow and become a large, popular figure among the public up until 1860 when he was elected. His main opponent in the film is Stephen Douglas (Gene Lockhart, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Scandal in Paris, The Strange Woman) that he debates with while running for President. Part of the debates were about slavery, a hot topic at the time. Lincoln’s party is divided amongst themselves over their candidate and aren’t sure if he will win the election. We all know what happened!
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a charming film with an excellent cast that includes a pair of legendary actors in Howard Da Silva (The Blue Dahlia, Compulsion, Unconquered) as Jack Armstrong, and Ruth Gordon (Edge of Darkness, Rosemary’s Baby) as Mary Todd Lincoln. Raymond Massey was excellent as Abraham Lincoln, a role I wasn’t sure if he would be a good fit for, but he plays it perfectly!
John Cromwell’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois has been given a Blu-ray release from Warner Archive. They have most likely given the film either a 4K or a 2K scan. The black and white image is clear for the most part with deep blacks and crisp whites. The greyscale looks balanced. There are some spots early on with the image appearing somewhat soft but otherwise this video presentation looks solid with a polished look to it. James Wong Howe’s cinematography does tend to stand out with the boost in contrast, showing more detail and textures to the scenery. Close-ups of the actors faces also tend to show more detail.
For the audio, Warner’s DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix sounds excellent with dialogue that is easy to understand is clear to go with a balance of Roy Webb’s musical score and other background noises and effects. Everything sounded fine with nothing coming in too aggressively. No audio issues like crackling or drop-offs were detected. English subtitles are available for this release!
This release has an extra called Lux Radio Theater Broadcast that runs for almost an hour. It was directed by Ted Bliss and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, who also provides a short introduction to the program. Raymond Massey is Lincoln, reprising his part, but the other cast members aren’t the same as they were in the film.
I think this should be an easy pickup for collectors for historical film fans. The excellent audio and video quality, plus a cool extra make for this release to be a recommended one!
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Director- John Cromwell
Cast- Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon
Country of Origin- USA
Distributor – Warner Archive Collection / Warner Brothers
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –10/6/2022