Tying Lincoln to One of Henry's Cars -- December 12, 2024

Moving Picture World, 06-December-1924

The Liberty Theater in Terra Haute cooperated with the local Lincoln dealer to tie the car in with the movie The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln by Al and Ray Rockett.

Motion Picture News, 01-September-1923

Binge Watching -- Manhunt -- April 24, 2024

While I was recuperating last week, I decided to binge watch something. Apple TV+ was showing Manhunt, a miniseries based on James L Swanson's book. I was interested to see that many of the actors were British or Irish, including Tobias Menzies as Edwin Stanton and Anthony Boyle as the coward Booth. I thought Hamish Linklater, who played Lincoln, was Scottish, but he is an American. Lovie Simone played Mary Simms, a slave of Dr Mudd who helped to expose the conspiracy. Matt Walsh played Samuel Mudd. Will Harrison played David Herold. 

The story moved right along, jumping back and forth in time. It did not try to exonerate Mary Surratt. It strongly implied that Jefferson Davis ordered the murder. I found it worth watching. I wonder what someone who had not read the book would think.  

The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln --February 12, 2024

Motion Picture News, 01-September-1923

Today would have been Abraham Lincoln's 215th birthday. Brothers Al and Ray Rockett produced The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln in 1922. Frances Marion wrote the script, Phil Rosen directed and George A Billings played Abraham Lincoln. It was an elaborate production. 

Motion Picture News, 01-September-1923

Life of Lincoln Now in Production -- February 12, 2023

Moving Picture World, 14-October-1922

Today would have been Abraham Lincoln's 213th birthday. Brothers Al and Ray Rockett produced The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln in 1922. Frances Marion wrote the script. Phil Rosen directed and George A Billings played Abraham Lincoln.

Motion Picture News, 14-October-1922

The Reprieve, an Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln -- February 12, 2022

Moving Picture World, 22-August-1908

Today is Abraham Lincoln's 213th birthday. My favorite president.  

  
In 1908, the Vitagraph produced "The Reprieve, an Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln," a split reel which some sources say is the first movie about Abraham Lincoln.

The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln -- February 12, 2021

 

Exhibitors Herald, 01-September-1923

Today would have been Abraham Lincoln's 212th birthday. Brothers Al and Ray Rockett produced The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln in 1923. Frances Marion wrote the script. Phil Rosen directed and George A Billings played Abraham Lincoln. 

The Land of Opportunity -- February 12, 2020

Moving Picture World, 31-January-1920

Happy 211th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president. Actor Ralph Ince, brother of producer-director-writer Thomas Ince, played Lincoln in a short film called "The Land of Opportunity."  I wonder what Americanization Productions were about.

Pictorial History of the Great Emancipator -- February 12, 2019

Moving Picture World, 05-May-1917

Happy 210th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president. Actor Benjamin Chapin looked a lot like Abraham Lincoln. He played Lincoln in at least 13 movies, including the four movie group, The Lincoln Cycle.

Moving Picture World, 05-May-1917

Benjamin Chapin in The Lincoln Cycle -- February 12, 2018

Moving Picture World, 02-June-1917

Happy 208th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president. Actor Benjamin Chapin looked a lot like Abraham Lincoln.  He played Lincoln in at least 13 movies, including the four movie group, The Lincoln Cycle.

Francis Ford as the Great Emancipator -- February 12, 2017

It, 15-July-1920

Happy 208th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president.  In 1915, Universal released a Gold Seal production, "The Heart of Lincoln," just in time for his birthday.  Francis Ford, brother of future director John Ford, played Lincoln.  Ford directed the film and co-starred with his frequent partner, Grace Cunard.  She wrote the scenario. 

"... in his Big Americanization Feature which is soon to be released, and John Dean, father of Harry Ellis Dean, who voted for Abraham Lincoln."  Since the movie was released in 1915, this item must refer to a re-release.  Harry Ellis Dean was the business manager of the Francis Ford Studios.


I posted a 1915 story about the movie:
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-heart-of-lincoln-february-12-2015.html

Francis Ford played Abraham Lincoln in seven other films.   

DW Griffith's Abraham Lincoln -- February 12, 2016

www.listal.com

Happy 207th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president.  DW Griffith's first all-talkie movie was DW Griffith's Abraham Lincoln, from a script by Stephen Vincent Benet and starring Walter Huston.  I grew up reading books that said it was terrible.  I finally got to see it when a San Francisco UHF station bought a package of old movies that had not been on the air for a long time.

I thought Walter Huston was very good.  There were other interesting actors like Jason Robards, Sr and Ian Keith, who played the coward Booth with a big mouthful of scenery.  Henry B Walthall, the Little Colonel in Griffith's Birth of a Nation, played a Colonel.  The movie didn't have a story.  It was more like series of tableaux. 

New Movie, November, 1930

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Picture of the Week will appear tomorrow.  

The Heart of Lincoln -- February 12, 2015

Moving Picture World, 30-January-1915

Happy 206th birthday to Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president.  In 1915, Universal released a Gold Seal production, "The Heart of Lincoln," just in time for his birthday.  Francis Ford, brother of future director John Ford, played Lincoln.  Ford directed the film and co-starred with his frequent partner, Grace Cunard.  She wrote the scenario. 

"As a basis for the multiple-reel picture perhaps no period of history has lent itself so unstintingly to the screen as that of the Civil War; nor has any single personality of history been more largely monopolized as a subject for screen impersonation than that of Abraham Lincoln."  This is interesting to read with the premiere of Birth of a Nation Waiting just around the corner. 

Francis Ford had played Abraham Lincoln in seven other films.   

The Crisis -- Febrruary 12, 2014

In honor of Abraham Lincoln's 205th birthday, here is an ad for The Crisis, a 1916 film based on a Civil War novel by Winston Churchill, an American who was not related to the British (and half-American) statesman.  The film was produced by the Selig Polyscope Company but released on a states rights basis.  Actor Sam Dade Drane played Lincoln. 

In the book, Lincoln appeared only twice, but the big events of the story, from the 1860 presidential nominations to the end of the Civil War, are driven by Lincoln and his ideas. 

The ad above is from the 11-November-1916 Moving Picture World.