ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS

A wonderful piece of authentic Americana that has tended to be overlooked in favour of John Ford's "Young Mr Lincoln" and while Cromwell was no Ford, this is almost as good. Raymond Massey received his only Oscar nomination as "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" and it's s superb performance and unlike Ford's movie this covers the whole spectrum of Lincoln's life from the earliest days right up to Washington and the presidency, his courtship of Ann Rutledge, (a charming Mary Howard), and marriage to Mary Todd, (a wonderful Ruth Gordon).

Other standouts in a good cast include Gene Lockhart as Stephen Douglas and Howard Da Silva as the town bully who becomes Abe's best friend. The source material is a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Robert E Sherwood and it was Sherwood himself who brought it to the screen while Lincoln's 'House Divided' speech, magnificently spoken by Massey, could be culled from today's headlines and sadly is just as appropriate today as it was back then.