Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Director(s) D.W. Griffith
Producer(s) D.W. Griffith, H.E. Aitken (uncredited)
Top Genres Drama, Epic, Historical, Romance, Silent Films, War
Top Topics Brothers, Civil War, Old South
More Films Directed by D.W. Griffith More Films Produced by D.W. Griffith More Films from 1915 More Films from the 1910s Top Classic Movies of the 1910s Top Brothers Films

The Birth of a Nation Overview:

The Birth of a Nation (1915) was a Drama - Historical Film directed by D.W. Griffith and produced by D.W. Griffith and H.E. Aitken.

The Birth of a Nation was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992.

The Birth of a Nation BlogHub Articles:

Classic Films in Focus: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 19, 2013 From Virtual Virago

D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic is one of those films that every serious student of film probably needs to sit through at some point, but for the modern viewer The Birth of a Nation (1915) is a very hard pill to swallow. Lauded by film critics who praise its technique while deploring its polit... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 19, 2013 From Virtual Virago

D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic is one of those films that every serious student of film probably feels obligated to sit through at some point, but for the modern viewer The Birth of a Nation (1915) is a very hard pill to swallow. Lauded by film critics who praise its technique while deploring... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)

By Jennifer Garlen on Feb 19, 2013 From Virtual Virago

D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic is one of those films that every serious student of film probably feels obligated to sit through at some point, but for the modern viewer The Birth of a Nation (1915) is a very hard pill to swallow. Lauded by film critics who praise its technique while deploring... Read full article

10 Things About The Birth of a Nation

By Brandy Dean on Feb 8, 2013 From Pretty Clever Films

If you’re going to love silent cinema or if you’re going to make a study of the early development of movies, you’re gonna have to butt heads with D.W. Griffith. And you’re going to have to come to some kind of truce with The Birth of a Nation. We all know the problems with th... Read full article

The Birth of a Nation

By Janelle Vreeland on Sep 19, 2011 From Curtains

The Birth of a Nation (1915) There is no question about the influence director D.W. Griffith has had on the art of filmmaking. He invented techniques that we take for granted today. And what he did not invent himself, he certainly perfected. Unfortunately, his genius was tarnished by the racist to... Read full article

See More The Birth of a Nation Articles

The Birth of a Nation Quotes:

Flora Cameron: [to Gus] Stay away or I'll jump!
Flora Cameron: [letter to Ben] - and you have really grown a moustache - oh my! I'm just dying, dying to see you. Well, I'm growing up too - they say I'm such a big girl now you wouldn't know me. XXXXXX Kisses Your little
[crossed out]
Flora Cameron: big Sis
John Wilkes Booth: Sic semper tyrannis!
Elsie Stoneman: [Ben is to be hanged. Elsie has an idea] We will ask mercy from the Great Heart.
Col. Ben Cameron: [to Elsie, whose portrait he has been carrying] Though we had never met, I have carried you about with me for a long, long time.
See More Quotes from The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation Facts
Ironically, D.W. Griffith had previously produced and directed Biograph's The Rose of Kentucky, which showed the Ku Klux Klan as villainous--a sharp contrast to this film, made four years later, in which the KKK was portrayed in a favorable light.
A huge demand for film prints quickly wore out the one and only negative. All later copies of the film had to be made from prints, causing reduced quality.
After this film was released and criticized as being racist, D.W. Griffith was very hurt. He decided to make Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages as a follow-up, to show how damaging and dangerous people's intolerance can be.
The Ford's Theatre scene was filmed on an outdoor set.
Some of the investors were Louis B. Mayer, H.E. Aitken and Jesse L. Lasky among many others in Hollywood at that time. The film's success is what helped the three to form their own film studios--Mayer started Louis B. Mayer Productions, which eventually became MGM, and Lasky started Famous Playes-Lasky, which eventually became Paramount Pictures.among others.
See More Facts about The Birth of a Nation >>