Birth of a Nation

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The most successful and artistically advanced film of its time, The Birth of a Nation has also sparked protests, riots, and divisiveness since its first release. The film tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The Stonemans hail from the North, the Camerons from the South. When war breaks out, the Stonemans cast their lot with the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie. After the war, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), distressed that his beloved south is now under the rule of blacks and carpetbaggers, organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When Cameron's beloved younger sister Flora (Mae Marsh) leaps to her death rather than surrender to the lustful advances of renegade slave Gus (Walter Long), the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores "order" to the South. (In the original prints, Griffith suggested that the black population be shipped to Liberia, citing Abraham Lincoln as the inspiration for this ethnic cleansing.) The Birth of a Nation showcases director D.W. Griffith's paradoxical position as artistically advanced yet politically reactionary; the most far-thinking filmmaker of his time in conceiving new ways to tell stories and move the camera, Griffith was also shackled to Victorian ideas about race, women, and families. As a result, showings of Birth of a Nation have been picketed and boycotted from the start, and as recently as 1995, Turner Classic Movies cancelled a showing of a restored print in the wake of the racial tensions around the O.J. Simpson trial verdict. The DVD contains a 24-minute documentary focusing on the production of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo, Silent
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • Mastered from the original tinted print
  • Digital stereo orchestral score
  • 24-minute documentary detailing the production of the film, including rare behind-the-scenes footage and more

AWARDS

• American Film Institute

•     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998

• Library of Congress

•     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1991

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Henry B. Walthall - Ben Cameron, the Little Colonel
       Miriam Cooper - Margaret Cameron
       Mae Marsh - Flora Cameron, the Little Sister
       Lillian Gish - Elsie Stoneman
       Robert Harron - Ted Stoneman
       Ralph Lewis - The Honorable Austin Stoneman, Leader of the House

• Director:

  D.W. Griffith

• Producer:

  D.W. Griffith

• Book Author:

  Thomas Dixon

• Screenwriter:

  Thomas F. Dixen, D.W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods

• Cinematographer:

  Billy Bitzer

• Composer (Music Score):

  D.W. Griffith

• Editor:

  James Smith

REVIEW:

• The conflicted legacy of this first American blockbuster epic rests on the combination of Southern-bred D.W. Griffith's landmark technical achievements and his racism, as his version of the Civil War and Reconstruction highlighted fears of miscegenation and the heroism of the Ku Klux Klan. Aiming to make the greatest film ever, Griffith deployed all the technical experiments of his previous movies for maximum visceral effect, along with a prepared score mixing classical music and folk tunes. With expressive close-ups and long shots, irises and superimpositions, Griffith communicated not only the monumental scale of Civil War battles but also the intimate psychology of his central characters. The climactic ride of the Klan to save white girlhood from black defilement marked Griffith's most extraordinary and influential use of parallel editing to galvanize emotional excitement. The longest and most expensive American film made as of 1915, Birth opened to raves for its artistry and record-breaking box office returns, helping to legitimize movies as "respectable" entertainment. Its force was hardly all positive, however, as the NAACP organized a public campaign against the film and demanded that Griffith make cuts; the film was banned in several states for its racism, race riots broke out after its Boston premiere, and it directly influenced the 20th century reemergence of the Klan. As paradoxical proof of its cinematic power, Birth of a Nation still arouses protests decades after it was made. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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