Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

After the icky feeling of watching "Derailed" and a couple of other recent movies, I have calmed my soul with a surefire cure -- a gem from director John Ford.  This one is very definitely one of his "little" films and not really part of his Western genre, but it stars Henry Fonda with whom he shot a number of memorable films.  Fonda does indeed become the young Abraham Lincoln to the extent that the actor no longer looked like the Henry Fonda of the '30s, but a believable replica of the young president-to-be.  The tale covers his early days in Illinois when he was struggling to establish himself as a lawyer and takes the murder trial of two young homesteaders as its point of departure.  Despite evidence to the contrary, we never doubt for a minute that Fonda/Lincoln will succeed in getting them acquitted which he does brilliantly in his laidback, homespun manner.  His opponent in the courtroom is little Donald Meek -- one of those recognizable faces of the period who always gave the viewer his moneyworth -- playing a bumptious political lackey.  While not featuring the many mainstays of Ford's repertory company, other than the omnipresent Ward Bond, this film forms a definite part of the Ford canon in its evocative use of music and in its celebration of all things American.  A definite feel-good movie and just what the doctor ordered.