D W Griffith movie "Abraham Lincoln"

[Thomas Thorne]

Apart from a gratuitous depiction of Sheridan's ride at Cedar Creek "Abraham Lincoln" is a truly ghastly film. It is bedeviled by the static quality of most early talkies which were chained to their microphone. The screenplay was woeful. Walter Huston as AL ,a wonderful actor, was condemned to boring speeches,half of which ended in his intoning "The Union,it must be preserved."

On a lighter note Thomas Lincoln was played by a little known actor named W L or William Thorne. No relation to me alas. At least Charles Middleton, aka "Ming the Merciless" of Flash Gordon fame played Lincoln's dad in the far superior "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" in 1940. I am surprised this piece of trivia has not inspired someone to do a book or movie in which Lincoln and Flash Gordon join forces to rid the universe of both Ming and the Confederacy.
Tom