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gradually, is widely recognized as an American hero, and unsurprisingly
films have been made, depicting and dramatizing his already dramatic
life.
Between Political Success and Personal Tragedy: Griffith’s
Abraham Lincoln
An early fictional account of Lincoln’s life is seen in D.W. Griffith’s often
overlooked talkie Abraham Lincoln (1930), a film dealing with “Abe” as
a sort of tragic hero who succeeds in freeing the slaves and bringing
The Civil War to an end, but suffers great personal tragedies.
In the very beginning of the film, Lincoln (Walter Huston) experiences
a great loss, and as Lincoln comes to see his loved one, we see him in
a grippingly personal scene, displaying his inner turmoil. Lincoln comes
to see the young woman, who is desperately ill, and in a medium
close-up (MCU) Lincoln is seen, trying to deal with the illness of his
loved one and one particular line of dialogue: “Now, Abe, I must tell
you the truth” (fig. 14).
As he enters the room, he sees the young woman lying in her bed; he
paces the floor, takes off his hat and kneels in front of her, before she
– in a strongly melodramatic exchange of dialogue – reminds him to
“be brave” (fig. 15).
In this scene, like in many others from Griffith’s film, Lincoln is
depicted as an emotional person, and his bravery is underlined in the
dialogue, as it later is in his actions and speeches.
The film, in a sense chronicling Lincoln’s life, moves toward a climax,
and the main character is seen (in a number of long shots) pacing
around, thinking of how to deliver his “Emancipation Proclamation” (fig.
16). Naturally, the film ends in a tragedy, as Lincoln is assassinated in
a theatre, thus creating a classically dualistic “tragedy – success”
structure where political success and bravery are juxtaposed with
personal turmoil and tragedy.
The Dual Structure of Abraham Lincoln (1930, dir. D.W. Griffith)
Griffith, who is widely known for his racist epic The Birth of a Nation
(1915), shows a more humanistic quality in his political biopic about
Abraham Lincoln, depicting its title character as a brave “Emersonian
individual” and reminding us of the last stanza in Emerson’s poem “A
Nation’s Strength” (1904):
Brave men who work while others sleep
Who dare while others fly
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
(Emerson 2003, p. 43).
John Ford and the rise of Lincoln
Griffith’s film shows us the rise of Abraham Lincoln, from “humble
origins to becoming one of the greatest orators of his and any other
age” (cf. Pickwick Group Limited), but also his inevitable and tragic
fall.
The 1939 film by John Ford, on the other hand, focuses solely on
Lincoln’s ascendancy to become one of the key figures in American
history and politics. In Ford’s film we follow Lincoln, convincingly
played by Henry Ford, who leaves Kentucky to practice law, before
going into politics.
The “great humanist”, John Ford, sees his heroic protagonist rise to the
top, not only figuratively but also literally, as Lincoln’s final words are,
“I think I’ll go to the top of that hill” – followed by a low angle shot of
Lincoln climbing to the top of a hill, accompanied by the astounding
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” (fig. 17).
“I’m Not a Crook”: Richard Nixon as a tragic hero?
If Abraham Lincoln is one of the most prominent, iconic and popular
figures in American history, Richard Nixon is undoubtedly one of the
most criticized and “villain-like” characters in American history.
From Strict Upbringing to National Disgrace: Nixon
Fig. 14.
Fig. 15.
Fig. 16.
Fig. 17: Abraham Lincoln rises to the top in
Ford’s political biopic, The Young Mr.
Lincoln (1939), a film recognized by Pauline
Kael as “one of John Ford’s most
memorable films” (cf. Twentieth Century
Fox 2005).
Fig. 18.
Fig. 19: Authentifying footage from the
beginning of Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon
(2008).