As an avowed John Ford fan – and I mean BIG John Ford fan, I have never really been able to get the appeal of Young Mister Lincoln. It’s a good film, yes, but it just seems too uneven for me. Individual scenes work well, but they never add up to a whole picture in my mind. That said, Ford directs Fonda as Lincoln with a loving sadness seen in few other Ford films. I’ll tip my hat to that performance.
why are the films of 1939 disproportionally good? what films do you have in mind, besides “gone with the wind” or “the wizard of oz”? and are you speaking only of hollywood films?
Agree about Young Mr. Lincoln. It’s up there with Wagon Master, Steamboat Around the Bend, and My Darling Clementine as my favorite Fords. It treats the same theme of legend and history as the more celebrated The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but with a far greater subtlety and complexity.
An interesting tidbit about Young Mr. Lincoln: The concluding scene in the courtroom in which Abe Lincoln finds the guilty party and gets him to confess in open court by quoting the Farmer’s Almanac did not really happen in Abe’s actual legal career. Instead, the incident came from a trial that screenwriter Lamar Trotti attended when he was a Georgia reporter.
Also, the Cahiers du Cinema Marxist critics wrote a collective analysis of Young Mr. Lincoln back in 1972 that alleged that Darryl Zanuck and Twentieth Century-Fox made Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939 in order to promote the election chances of FDR’s Republican opponent in that year’s presidential election. The supposed logic was that since Lincoln was the first Republican president of the U.S., a film that glorified him would help the 1939 Republican candidate. However, I see the final moments of the film, with the Old Abe walking into the face of the growing storm as actually EQUATING Lincoln with FDR, who was at the time facing storm clouds over Europe and a continuing Depression.
The rest of the essay is actually rather interesting, once the authors get around to analyzing the film scene-by-scene, but they are WAY off on this political interpretation. After all, Darryl Zanuck made The Grapes of Wrath for Fox the very next year.
It’s pretty accepted that 1939 was a special year for cinema. And yea, I guess that refers mostly to Hollywood movies.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Roaring Twenties
Stagecoach
Rules of the Game
Dark Victory
i only see about two names that are standouts on that list. one on the list ive never even heard of.
and im not so sure “young mr lincoln” is disproportonally good or special. its more known for the piece of cahiers criticism about it than the actual quality of the film.
but yes, i understand your point that 1939 was an historic year for hollywood. i just dont know if it was disproportionally good. im sure we can find a few other years with 2 or 3 classic films that appeared.
and im not so sure “young mr lincoln” is disproportonally good or special. its more known for the piece of cahiers criticism about it than the actual quality of the film.
No, Eisenstein declared it the greatest movie ever made long before the cahiers article.
How about a quick recap of some highlights of 1939.
2 French masterpieces and the Hollywood studio system working like a well oiled machine.
Le jour se leve / Daybreak (Carne)
La regal de jeu / The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Babes in Arms (Berkeley)
Beau Gest (Wellman)
Destry Rides Again (Marshall)
Gunga Din (Stevens)
Love Affair (McCarey)
Midnight (Leison)
Ninotchka (Lubitsch)
Of Mice and Men (Milestone)
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks)
Stagecoach (Ford)
The Wizard of Oz (Fleming)
The Women (Cukor)
Wuthering Heights (Wyler)
Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford)
ive never even heard of these hollywood studio films youre naming. does “beau gest” and “gunga din” make 1939 a disproportionally good year for film? again, i only see about 3-4 really amazing, standout films on this list.
Dude, I can’t help you.
Not quite the greatest year in cinematic history, but I can easily see arguments stating the case. For most people, ‘GWTW’ and ‘TWOO’ alone (oddly enough, while I have a soft spot for ‘Oz’, are probably the two of the most overrated films ever) would be enough to place it on that pedestal.
I prefer ‘Wuthering Heights’, myself, as far as the Hollywood movies released in 1939. Olivier’s finest performance, and while ‘Citizen Kane’ gets all the praise for its revolutionary camerawork, check out Gregg Toland’s deep focus and brilliant eye here.
As to you, Bobby, I seriously suggest you catch these movies. I almost guarantee you won’t like them all, but they are a must for any film buff. Yes, the inclusion of these films (ESPECIALLY considering they are in the middle of the pack in this year) makes this a disproportionally good year for film, most particularly HOLLYWOOD filmmaking. This was certainly the highlight of the studio era.
To concur with Johhny Dubiel about Wuthering Heights, Gregg Toland’s cinematography even utilized several CEILING shots, hailed as a big deal when they appeared in KANE two years later.
I would add that for The Wizard of Oz ALONE 1939 is one of the great years in cinema’s history.
Elmen Tsarukyan
Well, it’s an interesting year, to say the least. Discussion is open to any comments about the films of 1939. There are lots of them, and they are disproportionally good.
Why? Who knows.
I just saw Young Mr. Lincoln. What a great movie! It quickly rose up the ranks in my mind, and I can confidently say that it is, in my opinion, the best made film of the Hollywood era. I mean, sure, we’ve all seen intentional framing, but never did it seem so unforced and appropriate. (The iced river scene reminded me of Tarkovsky, very surreal) You can notice that everything revolves around the big man. It’s funny how you can tell that Henry Fonda was nowhere near the height of Lincoln, yet through his performance and the direction of the movie, he is every bit the towering figure that Abe Lincoln must have seemed like in these simpler times. It’s in his walk, in the cut of his sleeves. He is the main focus of the movie, and the movie accomplishes the task of adding a much needed dimension to the historical character of Abe Lincoln.