The Birth of a Nation
An epic tale of the Civil War which many consider to be the single most important film in the development of cinema as an art. It is a stunning summary of all that was known about filmmaking at the time and much more! It was also a brutal display of DW Griffith's political proclivities. The Ku Klux Klan were cast as the heroes of the piece, and it premiered under its original title, 'The Clansman', the name of the novel on which it was based. Actual Klansmen paraded in the street to publicise the opening night, and many of the black characters were in fact white actors in black-face, notably the Camerons' maid, who is not only white, but obviously a man! Despite all this, the film itself is an incredible achievement, bearing in mind that only one scene required two takes, and that only due to a continuity error during the homecoming sequence.
Year: 1915
Genre: Alice's 500 Greatest Films, War and Anti-War Films, Silent Films, Based on..., Best of Pre 1920, Extreme Cinema, Movies (1001 You Must See Before You Die), Racial Intolerance, Classic Cinema
Country: USA
Director: D W Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B Walthall
Duration: 187 Minutes
Rating: M
6.7/10
Location in store: Alice's 500 Greatest Films
AVAILABILITY
DVD AVAILABLE NOW!
Permanent Collection
For in-store pickup reservations please call 03 3650 615
ALICE ALSO SUGGESTS:
Intolerance (1916)
Way Down East (1920)
Napoleon (1927)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
Nickelodeon (1976)
Rebirth of a Nation (2007)
_03.jpg)
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
