The Birth of a Nation (Blu-ray) PG
The Fiery Cross of the Ku Klux Klan!
Out of Print:
Future availability is unknown
on most orders of $75+
|
Brand New
|
Also released as:
Birth of a Nation (Silent)
for $8.50
The Birth of a Nation
for $9.70
The Birth of a Nation
for $18
Blu-ray Details
- Rated: PG
- Run Time: 3 hours, 13 minutes
- Video: Black & White
- Encoding: Region A
- Released: July 23, 2013
- Originally Released: 1915
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Lillian Gish | |
Performer: | Mae Marsh, Miriam Cooper, George Siegmann, Walter Long, Wallace Reid, Henry B. Walthall, Erich von Stroheim, Ralph Lewis & Aitken Spottiswoode | |
Directed by | D.W. Griffith | |
Edited by | James Smith | |
Music by | Richard Wagner & Joseph Carl Breil | |
Screenwriting by | D.W. Griffith & Frank Woods | |
Cinematography by | G.W. Bitzer | |
Produced by | D.W. Griffith |
Entertainment Reviews:
Griffith's later films are unquestionably superior. But here, in a very real sense, is where the movies began, both as an art and as a business.
Full Review
Chicago Reader
Birth of a Nation is a great epoch in picture making; it's great for pictures and it's great for the name and fame of David Wark Griffith. When a man like Griffith in a new field can do what he has done, he may as well be hailed while he is living.
Full Review
Variety
Rating: 4/5 --
D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation is as much a part of film history as the Civil War is a part of American history.
Full Review
Common Sense Media
...The sheer scale and energy of the battle scenes still carry a powerful charge...
Total Film
Problematically, Birth of a Nation wasn't just a seminal commercial spectacle but also a decisively original work of art -- in effect, the founding work of cinematic realism, albeit a work that was developed to pass lies off as reality.
Full Review
New Yorker
The civil war battle pictures, taken in panorama, represent enormous effort and achieve a striking degree of success.
Full Review
New York Times
While it's clear that D.W. Griffith's The Birth Of A Nation is a seminal work of narrative filmmaking and will forever live in infamy as a result (being seen by new eyes generation after generation) that doesn't mean one can't wish it were never made.
Full Review
Cinapse
Product Description:
This landmark film from silent director D.W. Griffith was the first movie blockbuster. However, it also reveals a horribly racist version of American history. The first part of the film chronicles the Civil War as experienced through the eyes of two families; the Stonemans from the North, and the Camerons of the South. Lifelong friends, they become divided by the Mason-Dixon line, with tragic results. Large-scale battle sequences and meticulous historical details culminate with a staged re-creation of Lincoln's assassination. The second half of the film chronicles the Reconstruction, as Congressman Austin Stoneman (Ralph Lewis) puts evil Silas Lynch (George Siegmann) in charge of the liberated slaves at the Cameron hometown of Piedmont. Armed with the right to vote, the freed slaves cause all sorts of trouble until Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall) founds the Ku Klux Klan and restores order and "decency" to the troubled land. While THE BIRTH OF A NATION was a major step forward in the history of filmmaking, it must be noted that the film supports a racist worldview. But there is no denying that it remains a groundbreaking achievement, setting a high watermark for film as an art form.
Keywords:
Civil War
|
Classic
|
Race Relations
|
Silent
|
Vintage
|
History
|
Assassination
|
Recommended
|
Period Piece
|
Silent Cinema
|
Essential Cinema