The Birth of a Nation (1915)
- Starring:
- Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, (more)
- Director(s):
- D.W. Griffith
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G
- Format(s):
- DVD
| Digital SD
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Synopsis of The Birth of a Nation
The most successful and artistically advanced film of its time, The Birth of a Nation has also sparked protests, riots, and divisiveness since its first release. The film tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The Stonemans hail from the North, the Camerons from the South. When war breaks out, the Stonemans cast their lot with the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie. After the war, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), distressed that his beloved south is now under the rule of blacks and carpetbaggers, organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When Cameron's beloved younger sister Flora (Mae Marsh) leaps to her death rather than surrender to the lustful advances of renegade slave Gus (Walter Long), the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores "order" to the South. In the original prints, Griffith suggested that the black population be shipped to Liberia, citing Abraham Lincoln as the inspiration for this ethnic cleansing. Showings of Birth of a Nation were picketed and boycotted from the start, and as recently as 1995, Turner Classic Movies cancelled a showing of a restored print in the wake of the racial tensions around the O.J. Simpson trial verdict. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 187 mins
Complete Cast of The Birth of a Nation
- Henry B. Walthall - Ben Cameron, the Little Colonel
- Mae Marsh - Flora Cameron, the Little Sister
- Robert Harron - Ted Stoneman
- Wallace Reid - Jeff, the blacksmith
- Spottiswood Aitken - Dr. Cameron
- Monte Blue
- Sam de Grasse - Sen. Charles Sumner
- William Freeman - Sentry
- Gibson Gowland
- Joseph Henaberry - Abraham Lincoln
- Erich Von Stroheim - Man who falls from Roof
- John Ford - Klansman
- Elmer Clifton - Phil Stoneman
- Violet Wilkey - Flora as a child
- Charles Stevens - Volunteer
- Alberta Lee - Mrs. Lincoln
- Elmo Lincoln - White Arm Joe
- Bessie Love - Piedmont girl
- Miriam Cooper - Margaret Cameron
- Lillian Gish - Elsie Stoneman
- Ralph Lewis - The Honorable Austin Stoneman, Leader of the House
- George Siegmann - Silas Lynch
- Mary Alden - Lydia Brown, Stoneman's Mulatto Housekeeper
- Josephine Crowell - Mrs. Cameron
- William de Vaull - Jake
- Howard Gaye - Gen. Robert E. Lee
- Olga Grey - Laura Keene
- George Andre Beranger - Wade Cameron
- Raoul Walsh - John Wilkes Booth
- Donald Crisp - Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
- Tom Wilson - Stoneman's Negro Servant
- Mme. Sul Te Wan
- Maxfield Stanley - Duke Cameron
- Jennifer Lee - Cindy, The Faithful Mummy
- Walter Long - Gus, a Renegade Negro
- Eugene Pallette - Wounded Enemy to Whom Ben Gives Succor
- Director(s):
- D.W. Griffith
- Writer(s):
- Thomas F. Dixen, D.W. Griffith, Frank E. Woods
- Producer(s):
- D.W. Griffith
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G(Questionable for Children)
- 1998 - American Film Institute - 100 Greatest American Movies
- 1991 - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
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