Honest Abe is a Lawyer to Reckon With in Young Mr. Lincoln

Back in February, when I was immersing myself in all things Lincoln, I discovered the movie Young Mr. Lincoln on Netflix.  I'd planned to bump it up to the top of my queue, but I never got around to it, so it took me until April to see this 1939 movie directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda.  It was odd to see Lincoln from his lawyer days, as I'm used to seeing him portrayed as President.  The case involved was loosely based on a case Lincoln tried later in his career, but this movie is more about being true to Lincoln's character than giving us actual facts about his life.  In honor of National Poetry Month, here's my review of the movie in verse.

Young Mr. Lincoln

John Ford and Henry Fonda made a pretty stellar team.
The Grapes of Wrath had Fonda play Tom Joad,
A man who loved his ma, a rugged hero with a dream,
A wanderer who walked a weary road.

Not long before that fabled film, the Ford and Fonda pair
United for another rousing tale
About a budding leader with an unassuming air
Who swore to see that justice would prevail.

Young Mr. Lincoln isn't a biography at all.
Most details it divulges are not real.
But Fonda is believable, a lawyer standing tall,
With witty tongue and a resolve of steel.

As Abe, he shows the sadness of a man who's suffered loss.
His craggy face is gaunt.  His eyes are kind.
He's gangly and he's awkward, but he isn't one to cross;
There's power in the way he speaks his mind.

The movie, in its first third, has a muddled sort of style,
With characters we barely get to meet
And scenes of small significance that drag on for a while
As more important ones seem incomplete. 

But once Abe has his chance to make a speech, the film's on track,
A courtroom drama full of clever tricks.
Two brothers stand accused of murder.  It's Abe's case to crack.
He'll do his best to free them from their fix.

The little hints of romance scattered here and there are odd.
His first true love is given but a scene.
He bumbles through encounters with the ritzy Mary Todd;
She doesn't seem the type to be his queen.

If anything, the tale explores love of a different sort:
The bond between a mother and her son.
His clients' rustic ma is like his own, and in the court,
That helps him to unearth the guilty one.

I'd like the movie better if it weren't in black and white.
The first half hour left me rather bored.
But otherwise, I found this Lincoln tribute a delight,
So kudos, Henry Fonda and John Ford!