Young Mr. Lincoln

[Liz Rosenthal]

The problem with Clark Gable winning an acting award is that he always acted the same no matter what the movie was. He was the opposite of Daniel Day Lewis! And unlike Humphrey Bogart or even James Cagney, Gable didn't demonstrate acting "growth" in his career. So I don't think he was robbed by not receiving the Oscar in '39. I must say, though, '39 was a banner year for high-quality movies. Let's not forget that The Wizard of Oz (my favorite movie) came out that year!

Regarding Martin's earlier comment about how we might have looked at Young Mr. Lincoln had we seen it at the time of its release - I totally agree. We would have had different expectations then. Reality and accuracy tended not to be hallmarks of Hollywood films in those days, and few people demanded such things. Realistic and/or sociologically probing movies only really came to the fore after World War Two, for many complicated reasons. Anyway, despite the many masterpieces Hollywood churned out prior to the end of the war, the industry also churned out a lot of drivel, and I place Young Mr. Lincoln in that category. For me, the movie was created with (I guess) good intentions and poor (very poor) execution, and exemplifies everything that was phony about the old Hollywood.