The Birth of a Nation
About The Birth of a Nation
The Stonemans of the North and the Camerons of the South are tied by friendship and by two romances. The Civil War splits them. Ben Cameron, a Confederate colonel, is captured. Elsie Stoneman, a nurse, asks for his pardon. John Wilkes Booth shoots Abraham Lincoln. In Reconstruction South Carolina, Austin Stoneman backs Silas Lynch. The film shows Black characters, many of them white actors in blackface, as a danger to white women. Flora Cameron jumps from a cliff rather than be taken by Gus. Ben founds the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan rides, defeats Lynch's men, and the picture ends on a Cameron-Stoneman wedding.
Cast & crew
More about The Birth of a Nation
D. W. Griffith directed, co-wrote the script with Frank E. Woods, and produced it with Harry Aitken, from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play The Clansman. G. W. Bitzer photographed it. Joseph Carl Breil wrote an orchestral score. Griffith's company made it. Epoch Producing Corporation distributed it. It was shown as The Clansman on January 1 and 2, 1915, at the Loring Opera House in Riverside. Under the title The Birth of a Nation it opened on February 8, 1915, at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, to about 3,000 people, and ran there seven months. It is 12 reels. Prints run from 133 to 193 minutes. Wikidata lists 187. It was screened at the White House for Woodrow Wilson. Henry B. Walthall plays Ben Cameron. Lillian Gish plays Elsie. Mae Marsh plays Flora. Ralph Lewis plays Austin Stoneman. George Siegmann plays Silas Lynch.
Themes
Background
It opened in 1915, fifty years after the Civil War, and treats the Klan as the heroes of Reconstruction.
Making
Griffith staged the battle with hundreds of extras and cut the 12 reels so the war and the Reconstruction story play as one feature.
Look
G. W. Bitzer photographed the battles, the close views of faces, and the Klan ride.
Technique
At 12 reels it was the first non-serial American film of that length, and it was released with a written orchestral score.
Music
Joseph Carl Breil wrote an orchestral score to be played with the picture.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 1992. Prints vary in length. A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- It was shown in two parts with an intermission, and sold with a 13-page souvenir program.
- Walter Long plays Gus. Mary Alden and Miriam Cooper are in the principal cast.
- Many of the Black characters are played by white actors in blackface.
- The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1992.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive as dw_griffith_birth_of_a_nation.
Scenes
- Booth shoots Lincoln in the theater box.
- Flora jumps from the cliff.
- The Klan rides in the last reel.
Influenced by
- Thomas Dixon Jr.'s The Clansman (1905)
Also available
- Internet Archive (dw_griffith_birth_of_a_nation)
