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Title:
Young Mr. Lincoln: Special Edition Double-Disc Set: The Criterion Collection
#320
Region:
One
Genre:
Drama
Stars:
Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, and Arleen Whelan
Writer:
Lamarr Trotti
Director:
John Ford
Feature
length: 100 minutes
Extras:
“Omnibus” A Profile Of John Ford’s Career, “Parkinson” BBC Talk Show
With Henry Fonda, Audio Interviews With John Ford And Henry Fonda, “Academy
Award Theater” Radio Dramatization Of “Young Mr. Lincoln” With
Downloadable MP3 File, Still Gallery
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing
Packaging:
Two-Disc Scanavo Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 24
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1939/DVD Release: 2006
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: The Criterion Collection Through Image Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
A
few weeks ago the History Channel aired a very interesting original documentary
about Abraham Lincoln that delved into aspects or speculations about the man’s
life that I certainly have never read in any history books when I was growing
up. Lincoln is one of the iconic Presidents of the United States. He is a larger
than life man that lived more than a century ago and yet he is perhaps one of
the most beloved Presidents in American history and pop culture. While this
country has seen many different kinds of Presidents, very few have had the
impact to literally become a symbol for justice and liberty as Abraham Lincoln.
Having recently covered some DVD and TV media related to the Roman Empire, when
I see images of the great statue of Lincoln in Washington D.C. I almost imagine
him as being a demigod or something much like the way the Roman Caesars of the
past were viewed upon by some of their subjects. In fact when Henry Fonda was
offered the role to portray Abraham Lincoln in “Young Mr. Lincoln” he
reacted by saying akin to “That’s like playing God!” When standing at the
steps before the great statue I wonder if anyone does indeed pray before it?
“Young
Mr. Lincoln” is very much a product of the era in which it was made. Some
facets to the film have historical significance, but this is very much a
sentimental court drama with Lincoln defending two brothers accused of murdering
a locale troublemaker in an outdoor fight one night. Henry Fonda is just so
dynamic as Mr. Lincoln that quite honestly one might almost think he really was
Mr. Lincoln in spite of the distracting nose makeup for the film. With John
Ford, Fonda would have a stellar career as one of the great American Actors of
the twentieth century. This is a film my father has been asking me to find out
if it was available on DVD for years so when it was announced for release as a
part of the great Criterion Collection of films on DVD, I requested a copy to
review because I never saw the film in it’s entirety before and because I
wanted to surprise my father, who is retired now, with it and give to him so he
can enjoy watching it as much as he wants.
I
was not expecting to like the film as much as I actually did. Some old films
just don’t connect with me and since I had never even seen the film before in
it’s entirety until screening it for this DVD review I have to admit, it
really is beautiful film. In fact I must relay my thanks to both my father who
kept asking me about it for so many years that I never forgot about it and to
the folks who represent The Criterion Collection for sending me a copy for
review because I may have never given the film a chance otherwise and then I
would have lost out on a truly sublime home video experience.
“Young
Mr. Lincoln” is presented on DVD in its original aspect ratio of (1.33:1) from
a high definition transfer created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain
positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed
using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality
through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD was encoded
at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included. The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm magnetic
master and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and
crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal is directed to the center channel on
5.1-channel systems, but it can be switched artificially by viewers depending on
the hardware used into a two-channel playback track for a wider dispersal of the
mono sound.
Please
note that the above-mentioned information about the transfer is taken nearly
word for word from the 28-page booklet included within the keep case, which also
features beautiful sepia tone photography from the film as well as scene
selection information and a listing of cast and crew credits as well as essays
by Critic Geoffrey O’Brien and an homage to Ford by Sergei Eisenstein that was
originally written in 1945 and eventually published in 1960. The picture quality
is indeed quite beautiful to behold despite the film’s age, but inevitably
there are blemishes that appear particular in the second half of the film that I
suppose only so much could be done to restore given the available processes and
technology use. Odds are though this is probably the best home video version of
“Young Mr. Lincoln” one has ever seen though since it is only version that I
have seen I am presenting a guess since there are no before and after
restoration comparisons on either of the DVD discs. English Subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing are also
encoded onto the first dual layered disc and the interactive menus on both discs
carry across a certain reverence for the material with music and sepia toned
images and all of the interactive menus on both discs are easy to navigate too.
The
extra value features are all on the second disc, but those expecting any sort of
historical studies comparing the film to what is known about the real Abraham
Lincoln will be disappointed. The materials are also somewhat sparse considering
this is a Criterion Collection two-disc set and not just a generic studio
release. The features are mainly about John Ford and Henry Fonda and their
respective careers more than anything else. As a companion I recommend recording
the History Channel documentary “Lincoln” if they can catch a rebroadcast or
buying the documentary on DVD from A&E Home Video. If the historical context
is not important to you or you are just interested in the film than this DVD
should be enough though film scholars and aspiring scholars will definitely want
to do some research and reading about the film on their own in addition to
purchasing this DVD.
On
disc two viewers will find two BBC programs, which are indexed with eight
chapters each. One is a profile on Director John Ford entitled “Omnibus”
(42:17), which quite honestly seemed like a bunch of other documentaries I’ve
seen about John Ford on TV before so personally I was not really into it.
However a 1975 episode of the talk show “Parkinson” (49:04) with Henry Fonda
was very interesting with Fonda not only discussing his relationship with John
Ford and the film “Young Mr. Lincoln,” but he also goes into some detail of
his experience playing the villain in the Sergio Leone western classic “Once
Upon A Time In The West.” The video source material has suffered from age so
do not expect a crystal clear picture. There are also two audio interviews
conducted by the filmmaker’s grandson Dan Ford with John Ford (7:27) and Henry
Fonda (4:31) as well as a radio adaptation of “Young Mr. Lincoln” recorded
in 1946 for a series called “Academy Award Theater” (29:52) with Henry Fonda
reprising his role from the film. This dramatization can either be listened to
from the DVD or downloaded to a computer with a DVD-ROM drive as an MP3 file and
is indexed with ten chapters. A gallery of onscreen script excerpts containing
production stills as well as deleted scenes including an alternative ending that
I am glad they never filmed because I think it would just not have fit in with
the style and flow of the rest of the picture. There’s also a one sheet and a
fan letter written to John Ford too among the gallery images too.
While
not quite as feature laden as some other two-disc Criterion Collection DVD
releases, the film itself makes up for any lack of additional bonus materials
and in the end it is the presentation of the film on DVD that is most important.
“Young Mr. Lincoln: Special Edition Double-Disc Set: The Criterion Collection
#320” is available at retailers on and offline now and is well worth a look.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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