'Young Mr. Lincoln' was the first of a half dozen or so films that director John Ford made with the actor Henry Fonda. Indeed it could be said that it was John Ford, more then anyone save Fonda himself, that was responsible for the actors image as the quintessential American man of integrity. That integrity is on full display here, and some pretty solid make up work makes Fonda look even more like honest Abe.
The story is based on an actual case that Lincoln took as a lawyer in the 1830's, with plot elements combined with another trial that took place in I think Pennsylvania decades later, a trial that screen writer Lamar Trotti (nominated three times, including for this film, and winning an Oscar for the script of the bio-pic 'Wilson' in 1944) I think attended. Long story short Lincoln ends up saving a couple of innocent lives, does some country lawyer stick and ends up slipping the real murder up in cross examination, Perry Mason style.
It's kind of hokey, boarding on hagiography, but good natured and intended to inspire. Alice Brady who plays the mother of the accused murders was dying from cancer when she played this part, giving her a slightly gaunt look and enhancing her performance with a sense of quite desperation that is real. I couldn't call this one of Ford's great films, but a good one, and I think sincere. ***
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