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Lincoln for the Defense
(1913) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Pilot Films Corporation production; distributed by Film Supply Company of America. / Released 13 March 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Historical.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? This picture play illustrates an episode in President Lincoln’s life prior to his election for Congress. It is historically accurate in every particular. It is the day before his final address to the electors and his success depends upon his final speech, which he has positively promised his political managers to make. A letter arrives from a poor mother whose boy is to be tried for murder, and she begs Lincoln to appear in his defense and save her child. Despite the protestations of his political managers, he determines to chance losing the election, in order to save the child. He tramps to the little courthouse, and in an impassioned plea to the jury tells them how this woman befriended him when he was a poor boy, and how he had held the accused in his arms as a baby, and by appealing forcibly to their paternal feelings, he succeeds in having a verdict brought in of not guilty.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 22 March 1913, page ?] Here is an offering that we feel sure will be a strong favorite with the whole public. It takes for its subject a little incident in the life of Abe Lincoln while he was still practicing law, and shows how he saves the life of a boy unjustly accused of murder. In the opening scenes it is noticeable that the leading player has some slight resemblance to pictures of Lincoln, but in the trial scene, when he is addressing the jury, he grows more and more like the man he is portraying until, it is safe to say, many people will forget that they are not looking at Lincoln himself. This speaks much for the player’s acting. We like the way the whole incident is handled. Its simplicity and naturalness make it effective, and one is made to feel that it is historical. At first the trial scene seems a bit cramped, but as the trial goes on and the camera picks out the chief actors (now the mother. who is also a fine portrayal, and now the counsel for the defense), the action takes on life and seems real. A good picture.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Abraham Lincoln
Listing updated: 19 October 2022.
References: Tarbox-Lost pp. 127, 279 : Website-IMDb.
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