It's unfortunate that the first motion picture to fully realize the promise of cinema should also be a decidedly racist propaganda piece celebrating the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, but that's precisely the dilemma that critics have found themselves in since the beginning with regard to D.W. Griffith's 1915 landmark The Birth of a Nation, one of five titles in the seven-disc Griffith Masterworks set. Tracing the story of two families (one from the North, and one from the South), the film's melodramatic narrative follows the thwarted love affairs of a Northern boy (Robert Harron) and a Southern belle (Miriam Cooper), and Harron's sister (Lillian Gish) and Cooper's brother, "The Little Colonel" (Henry B. Walthall), against the backdrop of the Civil War and later Reconstruction. While modern audiences are less likely to be moved by Griffith's battle scenes (very impressive for the time), and more likely to be rightfully offended by the film's historical ignorance and insensitivity, The Birth of a Nation nevertheless signaled the birth of cinema--and, therein lies its primary value. Presented in a double-disc edition, the image quality is as good as might be expected and the DVD transfer itself is sharp. As for extras, the major disappointment is the lack of a commentary track for one of the most important and influential films ever made (in fact, none of the films in the set includes a commentary track); to add insult to injury, the 24-minute featurette "The Making of The Birth of a Nation" offers less insight than the included Photoplay text essay by Griffith. On the plus side, the second disc offers seven of Griffith's Biograph Civil War-themed one-reelers, and an excellent text and clip archive tracing the censorship battles over the film's release (the NAACP was, understandably, incensed, and the New York Censor Board ordered several scenes cut or shortened). Finally, and most amusing, is a six-minute "prologue" which finds Walter Huston interviewing D.W. Griffith, as they fill the room with smoke (literal) and hot air (figuratively). Also included in the boxed set is Griffith's sprawling 1916 epic Intolerance, the somewhat strained 1921 separated-sisters tearjerker Orphans of the Storm, the still eloquent and moving 1919 Broken Blossoms (tracing the relationship between battered waif Gish and nurturing Chinese man Richard Barthelmess), and the double-disc Biograph Shorts: Special Edition, a collection of 23 one-reelers (only one of which is duplicated on The Birth of a Nation). Boasting excellent DVD transfers and a wealth of solid extras (except for the missing commentary tracks), this instant library of the major works of the father of the motion picture is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)
Griffith Masterworks
Kino, 7 discs, 986 min., not rated, DVD: $99.95 Volume 18, Issue 2
Griffith Masterworks
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