D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation

Joined
Aug 12, 2011
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Elliott Bay
Here is a link to the video version of C-Span's Q&A with author Dick Lehr http://www.c-span.org/video/?323484-1/qa-dick-lehr

The interview includes clips from the 1915 film that is recognized for its importance to the art of the motion picture and to its influence on popular understanding of the ACW and Reconstruction. The film is credited with a resurgence of the KKK.

In point of fact, much of Griffith's portrayal of Reconstruction is completely false not to mention amazingly racist. The author of The Klansman on which the script is based, was a chum of President Woodrow Wilson and Griffith showed the film in the East Room of the White House and to the Supreme Court.

I'm certain Birth has been chewed on here on CWT, but Lehr's interview and the clips are still educational.
 
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