The Plot:
While a strapping youth in Salem, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln was known as a kind, considerate man, willing to listen to his fellow farmer's needs (and eventually take up their cause in the State Legislature as a representative) and extend credit to strangers in need. One day, he helps out a poor family passing through, and their payment of books seems to seal Lincoln's fate. Years later, when Lincoln takes up the practice of law as an inexperienced attorney in the capital of Springfield, he runs into a clan of settlers known as the Clays. When the Clay boys are accused of killing a local lug, Lincoln decides to represent them. As the trial looms, Lincoln is called to the manner of the potentates of power. It is there where he meets his future wife, the fickle Mary Todd. Sure enough, with the lynch mob in attendance, the State presents its case against the Clays. With pocket politician Stephen Douglas looking on, the boys appear to be headed to the gallows. But never one to give up, this country lawyer with a laidback, comically casual style is not going down without a fight. He will do whatever he can to help the Clays, and make sure that they live to see another day. Justice is paramount to Young Mr. Lincoln - and it is something he will carry for the rest of his life.

The DVD:
Young Mr. Lincoln is cinema as iconography. It is history as fictional heroism and truth as twisted through an undeniable monochrome majesty. Placing all his immigrant son adoration for his hallowed homeland into every single shot, the great John Ford recreated a pre-Civil War Midwest, a place where honesty and hard work provide shelter from an oncoming 'storm'. Indeed, this masterful director laces the film with so many symbolic allusions that the film acts as a primer for all the problems that Lincoln will face in his short 56 years of life. Dramatic and witty, with just the right amount of homespun cornpone wedged in between the joyful jingoism, this is motion picture patriotism at its most rousing and sentimental. Wisely calling on Henry Fonda to fill the earnest country lawyer's lumbering shoes, Ford found the proper persona to illustrate his Lincoln - a man of few words whose carefully chosen comments create instant myth. This is the Abraham Lincoln who can and does move lynch mobs to reconsider their actions with a spur of the moment speech. This is the future President for whom words would wield as much power - both pre- and post- election - than any of his noted and named physical claims. Sure, it's all filtered through a studio system mentality that tosses aside authenticity for a heightened sense of style, but there is no denying the core beliefs that bathe this magnificent movie in the shimmering glow of greatness that was one of America's finest leaders.

Surprisingly, Young Mr. Lincoln is not really a bio pic. It is more an exploration of allegory, a chance to visualize the values that makes this fallen hero a political and moral icon to generations. Ford obviously wanted to preserve the man's mystery, loading the screenplay with all manner of Honest Abe tall stories. That is why we see Lincoln splitting rails or recalling his days by the fire, filling his head with book learning. We see him admire a tome on the law and humbly help himself to an education in jurisprudence. Indeed, this concept of found, common sense justice is primary to what Ford is after in this film. Yet he is not interested in complete fairness, or the literal sense of giving each man his due. No, in this filmmaker's eyes, justice is served via honesty, integrity and unpretentiousness. There is nothing fake about Lincoln (at least in this version of his heralded life) - Fonda radiates a kind of inner genuineness that seems to stream off in waves of unquestionable wholesomeness. When faced with playing local politics as usual, he politely passes, arguing that he's not the kind of man to bail out on a scenario before it's completed, for good or bad. As an attorney, disputes are settled with consideration, not corruption or connections. All throughout Young Mr. Lincoln, Ford wants to find the inner man. He could care less if he gets the entire story straight. If you walk away knowing the internal temperament of this American emblem, that's all that matters.

That is why Fonda is not required to do much more except look the part and offer up his always genial gentleness. Even when Lincoln is mad, angry at the wrongs and discriminations surrounding him, his voice is mannered, laced with reasoning and resolve. Indeed, Ford never lets his lead come unglued, showing the kind of Method mentality that complicates modern performances. No, his Illinois idealist is a thoughtful man, one constantly looking off into the distance as if called by a higher purpose and power. Scattered along the backdrop are those issues that will later plague our future President: businessmen making back door deals; slaves supplanting jobs from the decent country farmers; political divides and individual agendas; the rugged frontier vs. the emerging city sensibility. Part of what makes Young Mr. Lincoln so powerful is that you can see the simmering trouble - it's written in the wild-eyed enthusiasm of the vigilante mob. It's found in the rugged and haggard faces of the men who built the country. By foreshadowing what he could become, and relying on our already intuitive knowledge of what will happen to this man during his time in office, Ford finds a poignancy and emotional center that is incredibly moving. You see the good in this man called Lincoln, and you lament the fact that it will be extinguished for very suspicious, and very specious, reasons.

Don't get the wrong idea about this film, though. It is not a platform for the politics and policies that Lincoln would use to try and repair a near-fatally fractured Union. Indeed, Young Mr. Lincoln is more or less a prequel/blueprint for To Kill a Mockingbird, with the future Commander in Chief as Atticus Finch and two Caucasian country brothers as the object of everyone's legal claims. This is a standard courtroom drama, laced with wonderful moments of homespun wit and judicial wisdom. Fonda does some amazing work during the trial, letting Lincoln slowly and deliberately get to the truth. The story is interesting, since we don't know enough of the facts after watching the crime unfold to make a discernible decision on our own. By allowing the legal wrangling to play out naturally, with the standard linguistic games and give and take between opposing counsel, Ford offers the maturation of Lincoln. He is pinpointing the moment when this jack-legged country lawyer became a singular man of purpose. By giving his own oath on top of the one imposed by the bar, Lincoln is putting his entire life on the line. He's letting his future be guided by his own actions now, so that later it can be lead by experience. There are some hilarious moments here, times when the humor borders on humiliation. But Ford is out to find the redemption in even the most minor of instances. That is why Lincoln is able to laugh at himself. It is also why he is deadly serious when the situation demands it.

As a result, Young Mr. Lincoln is the kind of film that makes you glad to be an American. While it may sound like so much patriotic pabulum, the fact is that this corny cliché actually held some absolute truth. The United States once held men, and ideals, like those of Abraham Lincoln in high regard. People lived by their word, and their bond could no be broken. Opportunities appeared endless and freedom was the foundation, not the only reason, for everything we did. In Young Mr. Lincoln, John Ford tries to encapsulate that notion of power in the people. It argues that one man can make a difference, as long as he is the right individual for the calling, and has found his own place among the populace. Throughout this minor masterwork of a film, Ford allows Lincoln to wander, and watch. Eventually, something clicks inside this thoughtful, compassionate man, and he realizes that if he does not take up the cause for those without a voice, no one will. It is this dimension of destiny, this notion that fate cannot be fought or beaten that makes this movie so special. While it's not the biography of an emblematic individual in our nation's history, it is a startling psychological profile. Or better yet, it's a reflection of all our inner optimism. This is Lincoln the way we wish he were. This is Lincoln the way we hope he was.

The Video:
For a film that is nearly 67 years old, Young Mr. Lincoln looks magnificent. Criterion, doing its usual stellar job in image preservation, delivers a 1.33:1 full screen monochrome masterpiece, a transfer so spectacular that it appears to have been shot yesterday. The interplay between shadow and light is astounding and Ford's compositions are nothing short of celluloid canvases as animate art. Watching this film is like taking a walk through the gallery of historic Americana visuals. There are times when you can pause the film and find moment after moment of serene, sublime beauty. Though they are often praised for their work, Criterion deserves special mention here. Young Mr. Lincoln looks remarkable.

The Audio:
Perfectly modulated and layered with majestic underscoring (by Alfred Newman), the Dolby Digital Mono presentation of Young Mr. Lincoln is professional and pristine. There is no distortion, and even with the flat, tinny truth of early Hollywood sound work, the movie's aural elements evoke a deep sense of ambient and atmospheric pleasure.

The Extras:
In order to maintain the high standards of the technical specs, Criterion makes the wise choice of placing all the bonus materials on a second DVD (there is nothing on the first disc except for the film). While it's not an overwhelming assortment of goodies, what we do get is certainly choice. First up is Part 1 of a multi-faceted look at Ford's career, thanks to the BBC series Omnibus. Narrated by British film icon Linsday Anderson, we learn about the legendary director's initial career in film, from his work in the silent days to his inevitable triumphs prior to World War II. It is a fascinating introduction to one of Hollywood's most misunderstood moviemakers. Next up, a spry 70 year old Henry Fonda makes an appearance on the seminal UK chat show Parkinson, and gets a chance to reflect on his career, his family and his time as one of Ford's favorite leading men.

The director speaks for himself in audio interviews conducted by his grandson, and he's as irascible as ever (a Fonda Q&A is also featured) and there is a gallery of production documents for the film that one can "electronically" page through. Toss in a downloadable MP3 file containing a radio dramatization of Young Mr. Lincoln by the Academy Award Theater and a 28 page booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien and an homage to Ford by Sergei Eisenstein and you have an excellent package. As usual, Criterion finds the proper supplemental material to give insight and perspective into the featured film, and it's importance to both its maker and its star.

Final Thoughts:
Coming as it did directly after Ford's first epic western Stagecoach, many may feel that Young Mr. Lincoln is not representative of this director's best work. After all, it doesn't feature vast horizons spreading across virgin landscapes, individual moral struggles played out against classic white hat/black hat paradigms, or a love of the initial innocence that was young America. Come to think of it, maybe it does. Indeed, Ford's signature statements are all here, wrapped up in the story of a simple man who would be one of our most profound Presidents. While we wait for the day when someone does Lincoln's legacy justice (perhaps in a Ken Burn's Civil War style), we have this inspired illustration of human resolve and personal power. On of the classic films from the heyday of Hollywood, Young Mr. Lincoln easily earns a Highly Recommended rating, and Criterion is equally praised for its treatment of this treasure. Abraham Lincoln was more than just his myth and his symbolism. John Ford's fantasy as fact is a stunning statement of all that made the undeveloped United States great. It also signals what is significantly lacking in our own time. We will probably never see another leader like Lincoln. We will definitely never see another director like Ford. Like his films, he was one of a kind.

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