Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-01-23


glitter OF the setting-its central
figures Mrs. Franklin D. Roose-
welt, Raymond Massey, star of the
film, and other members Of the
cast-could not obscure the fact
that the picture was the thing.
That, of course, is quite as 1t
should be.
Adapted from the stage play
by Robert Sherwood, author of
the original, "Abe Lincoln in
Illinois" is an altogether salts.
flying biography of Americas rank
ing idol. To say it is worthy of its
subject is to bestow upon it only
its deserved praise for it creates
q warm, living and eloquent por-
trait of its hero. It is not precisely
the same portrait that Sherwood's
play offered, for the brooding, be-
wildered, tormented Lincoln evolves
slowly from fellow of drollery. If
not of infinite jest. In other words,
the Max Gordon screen production
finds time for comedy of simple,
homespun variety where the stage
play plunged quickly into the gloom
of the character.
The change in accent makes more
difficult a comparison between the
two feelings of the Lincoln story.
Each has it's excellences and it
is perhaps an arbitrary choice that
we prefer the unrelieved darkness
of the stage version to the lighter
spirit of the film.
In bringing the homespun Hamlet
of Illinois to the screen more
dramatically than ever before,
Messrs. Sherwood and Massey have
accomplished another of those
miracles of collaboration which
Providence sees fit to make rarity.
Their effort has been handsomely
facilitated by the elaborate produc-
ton which Mr.. Gordon provided,
John Cromwell's keenly perceptive
direction, and the acting OF a cast
which from left to right, or any
other way, is one of the best ever
assembled for a motion picture.
Happily, there has been no dispo-
sition on the part of the producers
of this Lincoln to make it mere
photograph of a stage play. They
have taken advantage of the larger
scope of the camera to add some
material, discard other, and amplify
episodes which were treated sketch
lily in the original. Changes have
been made with extraordinary care
to retain the essential spirit of the
original, however. It remains the
dramatic narrative of a dramatic
life, whose overtones constitute a
timely Illumination of the truths
men find in democracy.
Naturally it is to Mr.. Massey that
audiences will have the deepest
sense of gratitude for this greatest
Of screen Lincolns. From the mo-
ment he picks up the character as
q gangling, lstless dreamer in a
drab Kentucky cabin until he leaves
it as the President-elect bound fol
Washington with a sense of tragic
doom, he is the complete master OF
one of the most difficult PERSONAL
ties that ever challenged an actor
In appearance, in voice, in every un-
Outstanding gesture, he is the warm
compassionate, bewildered, unsettled,
now gay, now despairing, human
whose greatness was not to be de-
MED even by his own awful sense OF
futility.
Most notable among the script
fevisions which enable Massey to
bring this complex Lincoln to life
are those which amplify the Ann
Rutledge romance, eliminate alto
gether the prairie wanderings, and
emphasize the humbleness of his
background by hardening back be-
fore the New Salem days. The
treatment of the mass of material
necessarily is still episode but the
direction of the film is sufficiently
artful to avert any sharp breaks in
the continuity.
Some of the scenes come off better
In the picture than in the stage
version. One particularly impress.
sive one is that of the debate be-
tween Lincoln and Douglas, a ORA.
matte high light in which the sheer
eloquence of the so different an.
tagonists is enabled in the film tx
draw bursts of applause from thu
spectators. 1t is one of the mos
adroitly played sequences the screer
has seen in years and if it does moi
earn Gene Lockhart prize for best
supporting performance of 1910, thu
one that does win will be a kind Of
miracle. Incidentally, the screer
Douglas is a much more clearly
drawn and more accurate charac.
terization than that on the stage.
Others Of the very superior cast
who enhance the nobility of "Abs
Lincoln in Illinois" include Ruth
Gordon, Mary Howard, Howard ds
Silva, Minor Watson, Alan Baxter
Roger Imhof and Harvey Stephens
Miss Gordon, making her debut
In pictures after triumphant pail
| Where and When
Current I heater Attractions
and Time of Showing