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Staring:
Lillian Gish,
Mae Marsh
Director:
D.W. Griffith
Average Customer Rating:   
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $14.95
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Binding: DVD
EAN: 0837654078570
Format: Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Surround Sound
Label: Triad Productions Corporation
Manufacturer: Triad Productions Corporation
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Triad Productions Corporation
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-10-01
Running Time: 125
Studio: Triad Productions Corporation |
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Amazon.com
A pivotal moment in film history. After The Birth of a Nation, nothing was the same: not the way audiences watched movies, not the way filmmakers created them. D.W. Griffith's jumbo-size saga of the Civil War expanded the boundaries of storytelling on the screen, conveying a richer, more complicated (and certainly longer) tale than anyone had seen in a movie before. The delicate relationships, the sad passage of time, the spectacular battle scenes all look as fresh and innovative today as they did in 1915. So do Griffith's brilliant actors, most of them--including favorite leading lady Lillian Gish--drawn from his regular stock company. What has become increasingly problematic about The Birth of a Nation is Griffith's condescending attitude toward black slaves, and the ringing excitement surrounding the founding of the Ku Klux Klan. Griffith, whose political ideas were naive at best, seemed genuinely surprised by the criticism of his masterwork, and for his next project he turned to the humanist preaching of the massive Intolerance. Despite protests, Birth sold more tickets than any other movie, a record that stood for decades, and President Woodrow Wilson famously compared it to "history written in lightning." That judgment has lasted. --Robert Horton
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Get a Better Product Desciption Elsewhere, 2010-01-09
This is only 120 minutes, missing an hours worth of video. The disk itself is obviously a DVDR which makes me think some one made it on their home computer. The case was not sealed like a factory product. The case broke the day I got it and will not close anymore. Total rip off as far a quality. I can't imagine what was "enhanced" about it. If I would have known this was some edited garbage some kid made in his mom's basement I would have gone to a different web site. I will never order from Amazon again because their product desciptions are too vague.
Wow! 5 friggin' hours!, 2009-10-05
Yeah, unbelievably 5 hours of this stuff! Yes, it's historical for being done in 1915 when there's no other film done at that time to compare it to. Obviously Mr. Griffith had lots of spare time on his hands to muster up a cast of thousands, plus a couple hundred Klansmen to boot. I gave it 3-stars (thats' a stretch) because of it's time period, but if you don't have the time for it-- skip it!
Looks Homemade, 2010-06-03
"Birth of a Nation" may be a great film, but this copy is of the poorest quality. Let me clarify that I'm referring to the DVD who's cover image is of a Confederate flag with the silhouette of a soldier on a horse holding a battle flag. I purchased it because of the "Remastered Edition" tag, but buyer beware! It's linked to customer reviews of other editions (e.g., KINO), but that's not what you'll receive. If this thing was remastered, it was done on an inexpensive home computer. I should have been wary of opening it, as the DVD cover was printed on an inkjet computer. Trust me, there are many better pressings available.
Not worth it, 2009-11-08
Don't waste your money even if it is a "classic", the quality is not the best. Get it from a friend or library.
Incredible and awful all at the same time, 2010-08-27
To watch this movie is to watch a contradiction.
There is no question that in terms of a movie, it is incredible, even more so when you consider that it is 95 years old. The Battle scenes are spectacular, The acting is pretty good considering the lack of sound. The occasional comedy is ok and in an age of everything digital the sight of a large scene full of real people and the desire to control it is appealing.
We clearly see this story is being told from the view of the old south that still existed in living memory at the time. Lincoln is treated with some deference (we will ask the great heart) but to say this film is practically pining for the old Confederacy is the understatement of the year.
You get some impressions of the racial attitudes in the first third of the picture when we get glimpses of the old south but it's the reconstruction scenes that are so unbelievable vile and twisted in its view that one is unsure if you are watching Triumph of the Will (Remastered) .
What is even worse in purely cinematic terms the 2nd half is an exciting movie so it reinforces a message that is so racist that it was controversial even in 1915 and led to the resurgence of the KKK and all the blood that would follow.
It can't be denied that ignoring the subject matter, what Griffith does on screen was genius. A breakthrough for its day and age, a masterpiece of cinematic achievement that is the ancestor of the great movies of today. That as a movie it can stand up to a modern film in terms of quality speaks to that.
It also can't be denied that the message it conveys is dehumanizing to an entire race of people, simply evil and wrong. While it argues the futility of war it presents a case to justify the permanent subjugation of millions based upon race. The closing image of Christ as if an endorsement of this blasphemy managed to add one more outrage to an already outrageous message. In this sense it is a greater ancestor to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 as a propaganda organ (that thankfully can't match the quality).
To truly understand an era one should read the newspapers and history books of the time, and also to watch the films. This film gives an important glimpse to its time, like the Islamic beheading videos one wants to turn away, but denial of reality will not make it go away. This film needs to be seen and forthrightly confronted for what it is.
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