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In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Creator/RaymondMassey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher. The film was directed by John Cromwell, and also marked the screen debut of Creator/RuthGordon, as Mary Todd.

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In 1940 the play was [[TheFilmOfThePlay adapted for film, film]], with Creator/RaymondMassey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher. The film was directed by John Cromwell, and also marked the screen debut of Creator/RuthGordon, as Mary Todd.
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In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Raymond Massey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher. The film was directed by John Cromwell.

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In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Raymond Massey, Creator/RaymondMassey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher. The film was directed by John Cromwell.
Cromwell, and also marked the screen debut of Creator/RuthGordon, as Mary Todd.
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In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Raymond Massey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher.

to:

In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Raymond Massey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher.
higher. The film was directed by John Cromwell.
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* BettyAndVeronica: Ann Rutledge, the daughter of the tavern-keeper and one of the founders of New Salem; and Mary Todd, who comes from a rich, proud family of prominent aristocrats.


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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Young Abe, who takes the oath of "I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America" as New Salem's voting clerk, would later take such an identical vow when elected and inaugurated as 16th President of the United States.
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* DefeatMeansFriendship: In the movie, Jack Armstrong becomes Lincoln's pal after Lincoln defeats him in a wrestling match. While this happened in RealLife, the "friendship" part of the story was admitted from the play.

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* DefeatMeansFriendship: In the movie, Jack Armstrong becomes Lincoln's pal after Lincoln defeats him in a wrestling match. While this happened in RealLife, the "friendship" part of the story was admitted omitted from the play.
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* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The play and especially the film were considered an allegory for America's debate over intervening in World War II, for the scenes where Lincoln attacks Stephen Douglas for his ambivalence towards slavery. Sherwood, an outspoken interventionist (and later speechwriter for FDR), did nothing to dissuade this.
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* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The play and especially the film were considered an allegory for America's debate over intervening in World War II, for the scenes where Lincoln attacks Stephen Douglas for his ambivalence towards slavery. Sherwood, an outspoken interventionist (and later speechwriter for FDR), did nothing to dissuade this.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abe_lincoln_in_illinois_1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Romancing Ann Rutledge.]]
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* UptownGirl: The romance between Mary Todd, daughter of a very rich family, and Abraham Lincoln, who grew up barefoot in a cabin.
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* DefeatMeansFriendship: In the movie, Jack Armstrong becomes Lincoln's pal after Lincoln defeats him in a wrestling match. While this happened in RealLife, the "friendship" part of the story was admitted from the play.

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* AdaptationExpansion: The film includes additional material, such as a scene with young Abraham living in his father's house, Abe piloting a flatboat on the river, and the true story of the time when he forgot the command to march his militia company single file.



* AsYouKnow: "Ninian Edwards, eh! The Governor's son, I presume."

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* AsYouKnow: "Ninian Edwards, eh! The Governor's son, I presume."" The movie has lines like "Hello, Billy Herndon!" and "I wonder what the great Stephen A. Douglas has to say" to introduce characters.


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* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The play starts with Lincoln receiving a grammar lesson from Mentor Edwards. The movie starts with him reading a volume of Shakespeare in his father's humble cabin. Either way, he's established as a young man who wants to improve himself.


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* MeetCute: In the movie, Lincoln first meets Ann Rutledge when chasing down an escaped pig.
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* OldMoney: The wealthy, snobbish Todd family. Mary Todd's sister Elizabeth is appalled when Mary shows interest in a backwoods lawyer like Lincoln.
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* HenpeckedHusband: Lincoln sometimes, like when Mary is badgering him about not cleaning his boots or giving her warning about some Republican Party dignitaries coming to their house. A resentful Mary says at one point that she knows everyone thinks she's a nagging shrew, but she's doing it all for him.
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''Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' is a 1938 play by Robert Sherwood. It is a study in the life of [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln you-know-who]], starting with Lincoln as a young man in his twenties in search of his destiny. He loves and loses Ann Rutlege, marries Mary Todd, overcomes a pile of debt incurred when his general store fails, and establishes himself as a lawyer and a politician. The third act of the play deals with Lincoln's famous campaign against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate in 1858, then his campaign against Douglas again (and others) for the presidency in 1860. The play ends as Lincoln leaves for Washington to be inaugurated.

In 1940 the play was adapted for film, with Raymond Massey, who originated the role on Broadway, reprising his part. Massey's deep, rumbling voice would for decades be strongly associated with Lincoln, despite the fact that Lincoln's real voice was quite a bit higher.

See also the film's DuelingMovies opponent, ''Film/YoungMrLincoln'', released the year before.

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!!Tropes:

* TheAlcoholic: In the first scene Lincoln tells his teacher that he's $1500 in debt because his partner in the general store drank all their whiskey and ran the store into the ground. Later, Lincoln's law partner William Herndon is drunk every time he appears.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: "It's--it's nothing but vanity that's kept me from declaring my inclinations toward you", says young Abraham to Ann Rutledge.
* AsYouKnow: "Ninian Edwards, eh! The Governor's son, I presume."
* DashedPlotLine: Act 1 deals with Lincoln in New Salem in the 1830s, Act II finds him a fledgling politician in Springfield in the 1840s, and Act III dramatizes his career on the national political stage 1858-61.
* ElectionDayEpisode: The climax features Lincoln and his inner circle awaiting the returns on Election Night 1860.
* LectureAsExposition: The grammar lesson from Mentor Graham that opens the play uses a pro-Union speech from Daniel Webster as material, and thus explains the controversy over the idea of succession.
* RefusalOfTheCall: The main theme and main source of dramatic tension. Many people, such as his old friend Joshua Speed, his law partner Herndon, and his wife Mary, all push him to be the man and leader they know he can be. Lincoln spends much of the play hesitant, unsure of himself and awed by responsibility.
* ShownTheirWork: The play is dramatically rather inert, but it does serve as a pretty accurate account of Lincoln's political career, with some dialogue taken verbatim from the historical record.
* YoungFutureFamousPeople: The first two acts deal with Lincoln as a young man and a beginner politician.

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