The Birth of a Nation
Released on February 8, 1915, at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, under the original tide, The Clansman, then released on March 3, 1915, at the Liberty Theatre in New York City under its new and permanent name, The Birth of a Nation. The film was financed, filmed, and released by the new independent Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken, in 12 reels of 35mm black-and-white film stock with chemical tinting, silent with music score written for live orchestra, 165 mins.
Production:
- Produced and Directed by David Wark Griffith Ê
- Written by D.W. Griffith and Frank E. Woods, based on the Thomas F. Dixon Jr. novels The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots
- Original music by D.W. Griffith and Joseph Carl Breil Ê
- Music selections by Edvard Grieg from his "Peer Gynt suite: In the Hall of the Mountain King" and by Philip Phile from his "Hail Columbia" and by Richard Wagner from his "Ride of the Valkyries"
- Cinematography by G.W. "Billy" Bitzer Ê
- Film Editing by D.W. Griffith , Joseph Henabery, James Smith, Rose Smith, Raoul Walsh Ê
Cast:
- Spottiswoode Aitken as Dr. Cameron, father of the southern family
- Josephine Crowell as Mrs. Cameron, mother
- Henry B. Walthall as Ben Cameron, the "Little Colonel"
- Miriam Cooper as Margaret Cameron, the older sister
- Violet Wilkey as Flora Cameron, the younger sister (child)
- Mae Marsh as Flora Cameron, the younger sister (older)
- George Beranger as Wade Cameron, one of the "chums"
- Maxfield Stanley as Duke Cameron, one of the "chums"
- Ralph Lewis as Austin Stoneman, father of the northern family
- Lillian Gish as Elsie Stoneman, the daughter
- Elmer Clifton as Phil Stoneman, the older brother
- Robert Harron as Tod Stoneman, the younger brother
- Mary Alden as Lydia Brown, the mulatoo housekeeper
- George Siegmann as Silas Lynch, the mulatoo carpetbagger
- Walter Long as Gus, the renegade black soldier
- Elmo Lincoln as "White-arm Joe" owner of the gin-mill
- Wallace Reid as Jeff, the blacksmith
- Joseph Henabery as Abraham Lincoln
- Alberta Lee as Mrs. Lincoln
- Donald Crisp as General Ulysses S. Grant
- Howard Gaye as General Robert E. Lee
- Jennie Lee as Mammy, the loyal servant
- Lenore Cooper as Elsie's Maid
- Sam De Grasse as Senator Sumner
- William De Vaull as Jake
- John Ford as Klansman
- William Freeman as The Sentry
- Olga Grey as Laura Keene
- Bessie Love as Piedmont girl
- Eugene Pallette as Union soldier
- Charles Stevens as Volunteer
- Madame Sul-Te-Wan as A Black Woman
- Raoul Walsh as John Wilkes Booth
- Tom Wilson as Stoneman's Servant
- Erich von Stroheim as Man Shot from Roof
Links:
revised 9/21/05 by Schoenherr | Filmnotes
