I have the Criterion edition of Young Mr. Lincoln, but like too much else in my collection, haven't seen it yet; it's queued up with the handful of other Ford films I have, biding. But during 2008 I read portions of three or four Lincoln biographies, and mean to return to and finish all of them. I was most moved and instructed by William Lee Miller's Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography (2002): Lincoln seems to have developed the uncanny gift at an early age to see himself and his fellows with abnormal clarity, to understand where he stood in relation to his own beliefs and perceptions and in relation to those of others and never to confuse the two, to truly keep his own counsel -- and what counsel! And having written the foregoing sentence I can only consider it woefully inadequate to capture the core and nuance of Lincoln's character or of Miller's portrait. But your description of Ford and Fonda's portrayal of Lincoln resonates perfectly with Miller's, or so it seems to me, variably removed, and if they were not seeking to portray the "real" Lincoln it may well be they manged to do so anyway, or nearly enough, at least at the ultimately crucial characterological level. As for the seemingly inappropriate ending, I was struck with the thought that the transition from three-dimensionality to two does accurately mimic the nature of the transition from Lincoln's actuality as a human being, as a soul, to the malleable, changeful, myth-inflated, myth-flattened character we are now forever (mostly but not entirely) left with. I am grateful for recent biographers, who do seem to be doing a fine job of carving away the layers of myth, or errant myth, that mires the man; but of course all those layers only and instantly re-accrue, in the larger public sphere as in most minds. Still the thoughtful can find something a little closer to briefly fill his irremediable absence.
And how did Fonda do with the voice? Did he pitch his higher, center it in his sinuses? Did it crack and squeak?
For me, speaking Lincoln's words aloud, and practicing them (with no attempt at imitating reports of how his voice sounded), was a revelatory experience. In the only video of me on YouTube, I read selections from two of Lincoln's speeches and the entirety of a third. (I have to admit, I've been pretty shy about sharing the link; though I've probably lost twenty pounds since that video was made, I'm still a big man in a culture that's often unkind to big men. Unlike Lincoln, I sometimes confuse my own beliefs and perceptions with those of others.)
no subject
I have the Criterion edition of Young Mr. Lincoln, but like too much else in my collection, haven't seen it yet; it's queued up with the handful of other Ford films I have, biding. But during 2008 I read portions of three or four Lincoln biographies, and mean to return to and finish all of them. I was most moved and instructed by William Lee Miller's Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography (2002): Lincoln seems to have developed the uncanny gift at an early age to see himself and his fellows with abnormal clarity, to understand where he stood in relation to his own beliefs and perceptions and in relation to those of others and never to confuse the two, to truly keep his own counsel -- and what counsel! And having written the foregoing sentence I can only consider it woefully inadequate to capture the core and nuance of Lincoln's character or of Miller's portrait. But your description of Ford and Fonda's portrayal of Lincoln resonates perfectly with Miller's, or so it seems to me, variably removed, and if they were not seeking to portray the "real" Lincoln it may well be they manged to do so anyway, or nearly enough, at least at the ultimately crucial characterological level. As for the seemingly inappropriate ending, I was struck with the thought that the transition from three-dimensionality to two does accurately mimic the nature of the transition from Lincoln's actuality as a human being, as a soul, to the malleable, changeful, myth-inflated, myth-flattened character we are now forever (mostly but not entirely) left with. I am grateful for recent biographers, who do seem to be doing a fine job of carving away the layers of myth, or errant myth, that mires the man; but of course all those layers only and instantly re-accrue, in the larger public sphere as in most minds. Still the thoughtful can find something a little closer to briefly fill his irremediable absence.
And how did Fonda do with the voice? Did he pitch his higher, center it in his sinuses? Did it crack and squeak?
For me, speaking Lincoln's words aloud, and practicing them (with no attempt at imitating reports of how his voice sounded), was a revelatory experience. In the only video of me on YouTube, I read selections from two of Lincoln's speeches and the entirety of a third. (I have to admit, I've been pretty shy about sharing the link; though I've probably lost twenty pounds since that video was made, I'm still a big man in a culture that's often unkind to big men. Unlike Lincoln, I sometimes confuse my own beliefs and perceptions with those of others.)