Cheap The Birth of a Nation (DVD) (Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall) (D.W. Griffith) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Birth of a Nation

Imagine it's 1915, and you're in the theater....
Having read the reviews of this film in Amazon, I have four comments: 1)The best way to appreciate this movie is to imagine it's 1915 and you're in the theater.You're seeing stuff that's never been done before: close ups, an extended narrative, character development, crosscutting and all kinds of crazy things never done with a camera before. We take it for granted now: try to imagine yourself back then. 2)Of course, the sad part about this movie is that that African-Americans were little more than stereotypes (they weren't even allowed to play themselves!)But you have to remember Griffith was not unique in that respect. 3)I find it really disturbing that some reviewers would use this forum to espouse racist or nativist opinions. OK, free speech, but please... 4)Henry B. Walthall, who plays the "little colonel," appears in John Ford's 1934 "Judge Priest," where he plays a Confederate veteran.If you found him interesting in this movie, wait till you hear his speaking voice! It's a shame they didn't have sound in 1915. In sum: Worth seeing for historical content and context, but Saturday night? I don't think so!

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Content and Form Inseparable
This DVD is a fabulous teaching tool. The old 16mm image and sound are rendered as clear as possible through this format. As a scholar of history and film, I always find it amusing to remind my students that film is a vehicle, that it is not historical fact, and that it was made for entertainment. This movie was popular BECAUSE of its form AND content. This visually overwhelming film spit audiences' racist sensibilities right back at them, pleasing a population living a full 70 years after Reconstruction failed. (the klan and northern political reconciliation assured this failure as well as the possibility of a film like "Birth") The interesting (sad?/hilarious?) thing is that people still respond to this film like it's a history book--which indicates the levels of racial and sectional venom that continue to poison our society 85 years after the film's release and 135 years after the end of the Civil War. For incisive criticism of this provacative movie as a cultural text, type it's title or Griffith, along with your subject heading of interest, like "race," "reconstruction," or "civil war," into an article database at your local library. There are hundreds of reviews and critical analyses by folks who actually know something about film, theater, mass culture, the book the movie was based on, Gish, Griffith, black-face performance, white womanhood, the klan, broad-based protest against the film, American social history, etc. Happy reading.

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Just About Brilliant
Using the KKK as heroes is in astonishingly poor taste. Even then, in much lass enlightened times, Griffin was taken to the woodshed and taken to task. Griffin responded by partially redeeming himself with the overly ambitious Intolerance. That said, the movie itself is brilliantly made. The acting, cinematography, direction and story are perfect. Definately a must watch for anyone interested in film as art or craft.