American Movie Epics from the 1910s Aug 26, 2008
The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Joan the Woman ... D. W. Griffith and The Birth of a Nation (1915) ... Griffith combined all these techniques in creating The Birth of a Nation, a three hour saga of the Civil War and Reconstruction centered around two families, one Northern, the other Southern. (Suite101.com)
The Birth of a Nation Jul 26, 2008
How the Controversial Movie Polarized a Country. In 1915, D. W. Griffith created a movie that stirred a nation with its heroic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan and its negative portrayal of black in post-Civil War. (Suite101.com)
Cinematic gems Jul 13, 2008
As for the equivalent in the movie category, Selvaraja brings out a 24-page programme of The Birth of a Nation, a silent movie with a run time of 3 hours released in 1915. From the good old days: Movie souvenir programmes from Selvarajas collection dating from 1900s. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
JACOBS: Political discourse still a good thing Jul 7, 2008
Drinking Liberally has good intentions to foster an environment perhaps not unlike when our nation's founders might have gathered in a local tavern to discuss issues of the day, talk of politics or plot the way to the birth of a nation. With the radio airwaves saturated with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and numerous other preachers for the GOP, liberals living in conservative enclaves can feel a little isolated. (North County Times)
Hollywood's version of the president Jul 4, 2008
As we celebrate the birth of the nation, it's worth noting that The Birth of a Nation included an appearance by Abraham Lincoln. Or an actor playing him, at least. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Today in Entertainment History Feb 8, 2008
On February 8th, 1915, the motion picture "The Birth of a Nation," directed by D.W. Griffith, premiered in Los Angeles. In 1969, the "supergroup" Blind Faith was formed, featuring Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood. (WCAX.com, VT)
India's, Bangladesh's birthing pains Jan 23, 2008
It's just a coincidence that their new novels both look at the birth of a nation through the eyes of a young mother. Neither of them intended it to be this way. (San Francisco Chronicle)
DJ Spooky's hip-hop splices Oct 23, 2007
In 2004, the American premiere of Miller's "Rebirth of a Nation" - a visual and audio evaluation of D.W. Griffith's controversial film classic, "The Birth of a Nation" - at the Spoleto festival was an interesting concept that was tepidly displayed. Miller, who mixed images and music live, used a three-screen set - a larger main screen and two smaller ones on either side - to work new, digitally inserted images against the 1915 black-and-white film. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Road to independence Jul 31, 2007
Telling a story about the birth of a nation in two hours proved harder than expected ... Many of us felt it was a huge responsibility and frightening experience: how do you tell a story of our founding fathers and the birth of a nation in two hours. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
ED WILLIAMS: Take a Declaration of Independence quiz Jul 4, 2007
Representatives of the 13 American colonies approved a document 231 years ago Wednesday announcing the birth of a nation: the United States of America. Test your knowledge about one of the most powerful documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence. (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
North Korea's Dear Film Buff Jun 15, 2007
Like the 1915 US film The Birth of a Nation, these films present a rewritten history that can replace authentic memory and balanced scholarship. A government can censor books. (Asia Times Online)
Read More... Apr 29, 2007
An audio and visual re-imagining of D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking and polarizing 1915 classic, The Birth of a Nation, the work combines DJ Spooky's celebrated skills as a club DJ, multimedia storyteller and social critic to transform the silent era epic into a mesmerizing commentary on political corruption and racism. The Tribeca performances will mark the premiere of a new soundtrack recorded by the renowned Kronos Quartet as well as a pristine new high definition print of the film. (Disinformation)
A CARD TO REMEMBER Feb 12, 2007
" I began writing to Miss Gish while I was in high school. It was the early 1970s and silent films were popular again. Her autobiography, "The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me," was in paperback, and I bought a copy at a bookstore. Famed director D.W. Griffith cast Miss Gish in several blockbuster silent films, including "The Birth of a Nation," which is also on the National Film registry. Her last film was "The Whales of August" (1987), which also starred Harry Carey Jr. I met Carey, a veteran of... (San Francisco Chronicle)
D.W. Griffith: A movie director points the way Jan 13, 2007
And in his later years -- long before Goldwyn s block-buster extravaganzas -- Griffith produced his own spectaculars, notably The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance ... Griffith s tour de force was, of course, his three-hour epic, The Birth of a Nation. (Mattoon Journal-Gazette, IL)
The Reel World Nov 26, 2006
The idea of owning part of a motion picture has fascinated outside investors since as early as 1915, when director D.W. Griffith convinced business leaders to finance his $100,000 ($2 million in current dollars) silent epic, The Birth of a Nation. An explicitly racist movie, it became the industry's first blockbuster, earning over $60 million (adjusted to current dollars) during the next 25 years. (Forbes)
The Race Issue Nov 8, 2006
Hollywood s checkered race-relations record reaches back to the industry s salad days from D.W. Griffith s three-hour-plus silent epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), widely recognized for both its undeniable contribution to filmmaking (critic James Agee likened Griffith s now-standard cinematic innovations to the invention of the wheel) and its unrelenting racism (the film features a heroic Ku Klux Klan, argues for segregation, and is populated by black villains, largely portrayed by white... (San Antonio Current, TX)
Porn film Deep Throat achieves place on 'landmark' films list Oct 6, 2006
SELECTED 'LANDMARK' FILMS The Birth of a Nation (1915) The Jazz Singer (1927) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Citizen Kane (1941) Vertigo (1958) Easy Rider (1969) Jaws (1975) Blade Runner (1982) Pulp Fiction (1994) Brokeback Mountain (2005). Andrew Collins, the magazine's film editor, said: "While many of these movies are truly great, this is not a list of the greatest films of all time. "These are films, major and minor, whose influence is still felt; time, context and circumstances have... (BBC News -- Entertainment)
History on the harbor in Boston Aug 30, 2006
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Want to learn about American history. Take a boat ride in Boston Harbor -- and get ready to listen as well as look. (CNN -- Travel)
Boston Harbor cruise a voyage into history Aug 26, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006. Chitose Suzuki, The Associated PressA U.S. flag flies on a ship of the Massachusetts Bay Lines as it sails across Boston Harbor. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Historical amnesia at the NAACP Jul 29, 2006
But how many know that it was a 20th-century Democratic president, Woodrow Wilson, who segregated the federal government, appointed unabashed racists to his Cabinet, and endorsed "The Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith's celluloid celebration of the Klan ... But how many know that it was a 20th-century Democratic president, Woodrow Wilson, who segregated the federal government, appointed unabashed racists to his Cabinet, and endorsed "The Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith's celluloid celebration... (Townhall.com)
Demonizing the GOP at NAACP Jul 26, 2006
Today's Globe Opinion Politics Magazine Education Science NECN Special reports Obituaries. AT AN EVENT in North Carolina to mark Black History Month last February, Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, unleashed a blistering attack on the Bush administration and the Republican Party. (Boston Globe)
'Cabiria' born at dawn of feature films (Gary Arnold) Jul 22, 2006
Among the motivations that prompted D.W. Griffith to undertake the large-scale productions that became "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915 and "Intolerance" a year later was professional jealousy. Still confined to one-reel (approximately 10-minute) melodramas, Mr. Griffith had to watch as a cycle of Italian imports with much longer running times, mostly ambitious romances and evocations of antiquity, were rewarded with prestige theatrical bookings in major cities -- and international success. (Washington Times)
Highbrow movies hit DVD Jun 6, 2006
Kino's 250 titles include Fritz Lang's restored landmark Metropolis and the D.W. Griffith classic The Birth of a Nation. Milestone Film & Video. (USA Today -- Life)
The Da Vinci Code: Blasphemy Hits the Big Screen May 19, 2006
From The Birth of a Nation and Triumph of The Will to Thelma and Louise and Brokeback Mountain, films have told us how to think about the world around us. Most movies present the world according to Hollywood (and the word became flesh -- lots of flesh) -- that the sex act is good in and of itself, that people should follow their feelings (which invariably will lead them to right conduct and happiness), that prayer is like throwing a penny in a wishing well, that God is within us, that God is... (Human Events Online)
'Birth of a Nation' has rare TV showing May 2, 2006
"The Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith's 1915 epic about the genesis of the Ku Klux Klan, depicts a lynching and two threatened sexual assaults on white women by black men ... Donald Bogle, author of "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in American Films," says that many racial stereotypes got their first wide exposure in D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation." Among them: The brute ... "The Birth of a Nation" is available on DVD and videotape, but few... (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The gifts of Bette Davis (Gary Arnold) Apr 29, 2006
Also arranged more or less chronologically, Mr. Bogle's series begins Tuesday with a recap of the silent period that includes D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," a 1927 remake of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "The Jazz Singer," the Al Jolson sensation that made talking pictures inevitable. By the time the series ends, with a ninth installment on May 30 that includes showings of Carl Franklin's "Devil in a Blue Dress" and Spike Lee's "Get on the Bus," Mr. Bogle will have traversed 80 years of... (Washington Times)
Colorful Vegas character Wright dies at 101 Apr 7, 2006
" Wright, a 5-foot-3, blond spitfire, thought of herself as a Vegas-kind-of-gal tough and brassy. In her 50s, she paraded around the Flamingo and Riviera pools in a tight black swimsuit and often could be found playing roulette at the Desert Inn with a Lucky Strike cigarette dangling from her lips. She died March 30 at the Del Mar Gardens nursing home in Henderson. She was 101. The cause of death was complications of old age, her family said. Wright smoked until she was well into her 70s, but... (Las Vegas Sun)
Bowling: Oscars add pimp role to blacks' honor roll Feb 8, 2006
It started in 1915, with Hollywoods first motion picture, The Birth of a Nation, D.W.Griffiths racist film version of Thomas Dixons pro-South Ku Klux Klan novel The Clansman ... While The Birth of a Nation was openly anti-black, Gone With the Wind was clandestinely anti-black. (MSNBC -- Movies)
Griffith's KKK Film Stirs a Civic Protest Feb 8, 2006
Scenes were cut and the film was retitled "The Birth of a Nation" before it opened in New York the following month. ADVERTISEMENT. (LA Times, CA -- California)
A Malick meditation on the birth of a nation Jan 20, 2006
But this film is much more coherent, a wholly realized vision of the birth of a nation, of a culture clash that created something not-quite-British, a new kind of person for a new kind of world. But that flaw suggests what Malick was aiming for, here. (Orlando Sentinel)
What we know, dont know about Alito? Jan 12, 2006
After seeing the movie The Birth of a Nation in 1917, Woodrow Wilson described the then-new medium of motion pictures as history written in lightning. The "Sam Alito Story," if Hollywood ever makes such a movie, will not be written with lightning. (MSNBC -- Politics)
