BIRTH OF A NATION

D.W. Griffith

Dixon

The silent film drama The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) (1915) directed by D. W. Griffith was released on the 8^th February, 1915. It was based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). The film was originally presented in two parts, separated by an intermission.

Wilson

It was the first motion picture to be shown at the White House. President Woodrow Wilson supposedly said the film was "... like writing history with lightning”; although, allegedly, he didn’t much care for the history it portrayed. It is an extremely racist work. It portrays African American men (played by white actors in blackface) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and depicts the Ku Klux Klan (whose original founding is dramatized) as a heroic force. There were widespread protests against The Birth of a Nation, and it was banned in several cities. The outcry of racism was so great that D.W. Griffith was inspired to produce Intolerance (1916) the following year. This was not a commercial success, but is considered to be one of the early masterpieces of filmmaking with a running time of three and a half hours.

Walsh as Booth

In The Birth of a Nation, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln is dramatized. The assassin John Wilkes Booth is portrayed by 28 year old, Raoul Walsh. Walsh went on to direct great classic film noir productions including The Roaring Twenties (1939), They Drive by Night (1940), High Sierra (1941) and White Heat (1949). Also in the cast was 21 year old, John Ford who went on to win 7 Academy Awards including 4 for Best Director.

Ford

Politics aside, these directors knew how to put together a sequence of images and texts  to make writing perform at its best.  John Ford has received praise from the likes of Ingmar Bergman (who said “the best director in the world), Frank Capra, Federico Fellini, Jen-Luc Godard, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa ("I have respected John Ford from the beginning. Needless to say, I pay close attention to his productions, and I think I am influenced by them.") David Lean, Sergio Leone, Satyajit Ray ("A hallmark is never easy to describe, but the nearest description of Ford's would be a combination of strength and simplicity. The nearest equivalent I can think of is a musical one: middle-period Beethoven."), Jean Renoir (After seeing The Informer, he reportedly told Geroge Seaton: "I learned so much today ... I learned how to not move my camera."), Francois Truffaut, Orson Welles (When asked to name the directors who most appealed to him, he replied: "I like the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.") and Wim Wenders.