The Lincoln Cycle
| The Lincoln Cycle | |
|---|---|
intertitles |
The Lincoln Cycle is a 1917 American silent series of ten short films portraying the life of American president Abraham Lincoln. They were directed by John M. Stahl and starred Benjamin Chapin, a celebrated Lincoln impersonator, in the title role.[2] All except two episodes survive in the Library of Congress archives.[3] It was also released as The Son of Democracy.
Chapin had appeared as Lincoln for many years, and had set up his own production company with the intention of making a film based on his own 1906 play Lincoln. Following the enormous commercial success of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, the potential of another play related to the American Civil War allowed Chapin to plan an ambitious epic series of films, rather than a single feature. He hired young filmmaker John Stahl to direct.[4]
It initially began shooting at studios in
Some confusion exists about the credits of the film because Chapin only featured himself in advertising materials acknowledging neither the other actors or the technicians behind the scenes, something that director Stahl strongly objected to.[8]
Cast
- Tom Lincoln
- Charles Jackson as Abraham Lincoln as a boy
- Nancy Hanks Lincoln
- John Stafford as Carter
- Willie Lincoln
References
Bibliography
- Bruce Babington & Charles Barr. The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama. Indiana University Press, 2018.
External links
- The Lincoln Cycle at IMDb
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