The Birth of a Nation (1915)

My Review

“The Birth of a Nation” is an epic silent film about the American Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction Era through the eyes of two families – the Stoneman’s from the North and the Cameron’s from the South. Director D. W. Griffith was the first to use cinematic techniques like panoramic long shots, night photography, panning camera shots, and a carefully staged battle scene with hundreds of extras. Also new to movies was his use of the plot build-up to an exciting climax, dramatizing history with fiction, and an original musical score written for an orchestra. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods.

The downside of “Birth of a Nation” is the unflattering portrayal o African-American men played by white actors in blackface, and depiction of the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force. It illustrated the institution of slavery in the South as benign with corrupt Republican plots against it. The outcry of racism was so widespread that Griffith was inspired to produce “Intolerance” released the next year.

Silent screen megastar Lillian Gish was the sole big name, with some well-known co-stars being Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Raoul Walsh as John Wilkes Booth, and Donald Crisp as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. “The Birth of a Nation” was a massive hit at the box office for David W. Griffith Corporation and Epoch Producing Company. The running time was 133 to 193 minutes, depending upon the “cut” used. It was filmed at numerous location around Southern California.