Home > The Birth of a Nation

Browse Amazon

Apparel & Accessories

Beauty

Jewelry

see larger picture

Staring: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh
Director: D.W. Griffith
Average Customer Rating:

List Price: ~~$19.95~~
Our Price: $14.95

Product Details
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0837654078570
Format: Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Surround Sound
Label: Triad Productions Corporation
Manufacturer: Triad Productions Corporation
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Triad Productions Corporation
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-10-01
Running Time: 125
Studio: Triad Productions Corporation

What similar items do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Review
Amazon.com essential video
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

Customer Reviews

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.

Revisionist History, 2009-08-26
This film is a technological marvel, given the state of the art in 1915. While hanging the narrative on historical fact, D. W. Griffith attempts to make the Ku Klux Klan the sympathetic hero figure in the piece. The atrocities committed during the reconstruction period following the war between states are undeniable, but the emergence of the Klan served only to exacerbate the reprehensible acts of the occupation government. Viewed from a historical stance however, Birth Of A Nation is a wonderful time capsule illustrating the viewpoint of at least one unreconstructed rebel film maker. Any student of the so called "Civil War" would benefit from this unabashedly southern sympathizing tale as remnants of the mind set expressed by the film maker exist even to this day.

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.

Landmark film, 2009-08-18
Excellent print with previously deleted scenes included help make this movie more accessible than previous versions. This is a landmark film in the history of cinema and should be viewed as such. Would suggest to those interested to get a copy of the Lillian Gish book about D.W.Griffith and read it prior to viewing film to understand what a technical achievement the movie is and why it is worth seeing.

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!

Top Sellers