Abraham Lincoln/The Struggle

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The silent cinema's renowned pioneer, D.W. Griffith, directed only two sound features: Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931), both collected on this DVD. Returning to the historic era of his greatest success, Griffith paid homage to the sixteenth President in this moving drama starring Walter Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre). Focusing on Lincoln's personal tragedies, as well as his great accomplishments, Griffith's film depicts the American icon with a sensitivity and grace rivaled only by John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln. A departure from the historical super-productions for which he was known, The Struggle was an intimate drama of an American everyman who falls victim to the debilitating affliction of alcoholism. No stranger to the destructive influence of drink, Griffith pulls no punches in dramatizing its potential horrors, especially in the terrifying climax when Jimmie, tormented by delirium tremors, attacks his young daughter (Edna Hagan) in the hovel that was once their happy home. Abraham Lincoln has been mastered in HD from the Museum of Modern Art's 35mm restoration of Griffith's historical epic. The Struggle was remastered in HD from a 35mm archive print from the Raymond Rohauer Collection.

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Black and White
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • Mastered in HD from 35 mm archive prints
  • Introduction to The Birth of a Nation, featuring Walter Huston and D.W. Griffith on the set of Abraham Lincoln
  • Lincoln's assassination: Comparison of scenes in Abraham Lincoln and The Birth of a Nation
  • Gallery of photos and original pressbook for Abraham Lincoln

AWARDS

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1930

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Hal Skelly - Jimmie Wilson
       Kay Hammond - Mary Todd Lincoln
       Charlotte Wynters - Nina
       Evelyn Baldwin - Nan Wilson
       Ian Keith - John Wilkes Booth
       Hobart Bosworth - Gen. Robert E. Lee
       Claude Cooper - Sam
       Arthur Lipson - Cohen
       Helen Mack - A Catty Girl
       Charles Richman - Mr. Craig
       Scott Moore - A Gigolo
       David Manley - A Mill Worker
       Cameron Prud'Homme - John Hay

• Director:

  D.W. Griffith

• Producer:

  D.W. Griffith, William N. Selig

• Screenwriter:

  Stephen Vincent Benét, Gerrit J. Lloyd, D.W. Griffith, Anita Loos, John Emerson

• Cinematographer:

  Karl Struss, Joseph Ruttenberg

• Composer (Music Score):

  Hugo Riesenfeld, D.W. Griffith

• Editor:

  John W. Considine, Jr., James Smith, Hal Kern, Barney Rogan

• Art Director:

  William Cameron Menzies

• Set Designer:

  William Cameron Menzies