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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

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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.
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The Birth of a Nation Facts
The earliest feature-length film listed in '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', edited by Steven Jay Schneider.
The name of the character played by William De Vaull is listed as "Nelse", while the character played by William Freeman is officially listed as "Jake." Many cast lists omit the character of "Nelse" and credit De Vaull instead as "Jake", while changing Freeman's character to that of "Sentry".
Future directors John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Elmer Clifton, Joseph Henabery, Karl Brown and Donald Crisp worked on this film as actors and/or crew members. Erich von Stroheim is also credited by some sources - including von Stroheim himself - with being an actor and/or assistant director on this film, but records show that the first time von Stroheim worked for D.W. Griffith was on Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, which wasn't shot until more than a year after this film.
At the time of this film's original premiere, it bore a title card that read something like, "This is a depiction of the events of the civil war and of the formation of the Ku Klux Klan from the point of view of the American South." This title card has since been lost.
Historian Kevin Brownlow has expressed doubt concerning 'Fireworks' Wilson' whom Karl Brown, the assistant cameraman, named as the special effects man in interviews. Brownlow's doubt is caused by the fact that there are no references to Wilson in any other accounts from any period, and he has suggested that Brown may have invented the name since he could not recall the name of the film's documented special effects supervisor, Walter Hoffman.
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