President and Mrs. Lincoln at homeI have no interest [monetary or otherwise] in selling car insurance for Geico -- but I have to share this with you. I think it's brilliant! In 31 seconds, we experience the illustration of our common belief in the personality and demeanor of "Honest" Abe, our 16th president. The filmmakers did a fantastic job of recreating a scene of the President and Mrs. Lincoln in a casual moment alone. Of course moving pictures had not been invented yet -- it would be approximately 30 years later that some resemblance of film as we know it today would be successfully invented. And sound was not perfected and distributed before the mid-1920s when film with a synchronized record initiated the sound era. [Full sound-on-film technology came later in the decade. The Jazz Singer [1927] has been given credit for the first sound film widely distributed.]
All that being said, this 31 second film is a masterpiece! The film looks like a partially deteriorated [un-restored] early sound film. Two lines of dialogue says it all. Simply put, it's a delight.
Mary Todd Lincoln is fascinating! What character actress wouldn't love to play that unfortunate woman, a life stalked by tragedy through war, her husband's assassination, her own brush with an assassin, bouts of mental instability, and the early death of three of her four children? Here she sums up her frustration with life simply by flouncing out of the room. [It's actually very funny.]
Her husband comes across as a thoughtful fellow, reluctant to hurt his loving wife by telling her the truth. But he can't help himself, delivers the devastating blow as sweetly as possible, and predictably, she stomps off, angry as can be.
For more information: Mary Todd Lincoln bio, additional Mary Todd Lincoln bio, Abraham Lincoln bio, additional Lincoln biographical information, motion picture invention, history of film, history of movie sound.
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