The Lincoln Conspiracy is an engrossing, eye-opening tale of speculative fiction for anyone interested in one of the most significant events in American history. It reveals “the real story of how Lincoln was killed,” a vast conspiracy and cover-up containing secrets kept hidden for over 100 years, like how John Wilkes Booth escaped to Canada after assassinating the president. Directed by James L. Conway (The Boogens) from the book by David W. Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier Jr. and boasting an excellent cast with Robert Middleton (The Tarnished Angels) as Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, John Dehner (The Day of the Dolphin) as Colonel Lafayette C. Baker, Whit Bissell (The Hallelujah Trail) as Senator John Conness, John Anderson (Soldier Blue) as President Abraham Lincoln and Bradford Dillman (Compulsion) as shooter John Wilkes Booth.

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Video Quality

Kino Classics presents The Lincoln Conspiracy with a healthy upgrade in the form of a 2017 1080p master transfer in 1.85:1 created by Paramount Pictures that looks gorgeous. From what we gather, this film was never released on home video, so this development alone makes it a terrific upgrade. The transfer maintains the lovely natural film grain absent of any major compression artifacts or other such damage. The grain always resolves favorably without becoming noisy or clumpy. The film has been preserved well with no egregious instances of damage or dirt detected here.

The film features some fetching colors within the costumes and rural environments that radiate off the screen with impeccable vibrancy. Skin tones appear to be natural, and the presentation offers up solid black levels that stay strong even in shadow. There is a grand uptick in fine detail that will be appreciated. Subtle details in the environments, clothing, and production design add quite a bit of texture to the frame. Kino Classics has done nice work with this one.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a solid DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that brings life to this material without issue. Dialogue and background noises stand harmoniously with all complementary elements. This track shows no standout age-related wear and tear such as hissing or popping. All of the sound effects and music appear to be faithful to the original intent of the creative team. None of these elements show any serious signs of weakness. Nothing ever overshadows the dialogue or other pertinent information. This disc maintains admirable fidelity that is appreciated at every turn. Kino Classics has treated this one with great respect. There are also optional English SDH subtitles included.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director James L. Conway provides a pretty solid commentary track moderated by Film Historian Howard S. Berger in which he delves into his background and entry into filmmaking, the theatrical model options of the time, working with the performers, what he wanted to accomplish with the film, and more.

Trailer: There are trailers provided for 3 Days of the Condor, Winter Kills, The Eiger Sanction, Marathon Man, The Organization, Rosebud, The Groundstar Conspiracy, and The Internecine Project.

Final Thoughts

The Lincoln Conspiracy is a “made for television” quality movie that seemingly had a theatrical presence from what we can discern. This is not a knock against the movie, as it would be upper tier in that small screen space, but it has many of the hallmarks that would remind you of that tier of film. The most prominent element in that regard is the persistent use of narration that holds the viewer’s hand when it is not necessary. The speculative fiction aspect of things is handled in an entertaining manner, even if we are not sure how accurate things are no matter how much it claims to be. The movie is perfectly engaging even if it is not particularly notable in any one aspect. Kino Classics has provided a new Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. If you like presidential intrigue, this should serve you well. Recommended

The Lincoln Conspiracy is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.