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Griffith’s ‘Birth of marks beginningBy RORY ALTERcinema ^tmema Prior to 1915, movies told simple stones anH8mCOnBl'rmred Tt™ lhan novelt items ,nd nut Birth, which can be seen Tuesday in■ iiditormm, was a sweeping epic about two families (onefrom the Nortly the other from the South) during the CivilWar and the Reconstruction period that followed Thlt;*power of the film ,s undemabi* ,ts aXyeIEe“chLmi, .^ b' 0tW'W '^Sd*owere rheering tile appearance of Uie Ku Klux Klan^Men thT1 °frTh “ effW'‘15 maemfl(‘d when one nsiders the age of this movie,,re'*rsial'!!iefs t exP cessed ideas and con-m«iium I,,®1' 'hat The motion picture had become aGriffith and h«/t?orn t^wuiht aiK* expressiongreat mno^u£apheT' Bil,-V Bitzer ^Iped in-ms w«r* blocked 1^° the makin8 of movies, **s add«i later. Act 'J”re shooting, and the deuil^‘r rofes and filmed closed actuall-v rehearsed for The shooting and edU^J*demonstrate ihe dunge^t^?, Birth of a .NationPreviously. Uie camera h^lt; to «hnmakmg*«r»er - merely a recover 0?^ alt;he camera became a part of , ,procwdl«s. No* f a energetic tmtTv**™*- a« L «, of interculung and Juxtaposing bns ml?'1 ^ 'he use shots to intensify tiie emotions nf rl W11 ai*l close GRIFFITH'S SCREEN^ for^B^ was based on the novel and plav •ThTru * NaUon lomas Dixon a clergvnun withs,™^Srna,,'' b' leanings and racial prejudice * southerna Nation’ of film as artm!,j!l°rm?tLely thls mars th* historical accuracy of the Blacks are portrayed as happy-go-luckv sinaino'e'd ,W°rkers U» war. and ^ater as scheming treacherous revenge-seekers with a superiority comn « In addition, the KKK (director John Ford claimed to have played one of the Klansmenl is depicted as a sort of^VNk\cpmanuemn^rrCh e SeVera‘ grouPs' includi«have the film banned ° ^ ***** °r 10Griffith seemed surprised and hurt when attacked for rai ism He had diluted Dixon's work and insisted in theof Todaf'that “ WaS mean‘ 38 ° reflectlon °» ay caceIN FURTHER DEFENSE of the film it lt;hn»M h* noted that the real villains in the show are unscr^pulo^hi 6 miSied M blacks Even the worstthat th ^Z€^lmtght ** «n view of the factthat they had been exploited and oppressedIt is completely understandable that the movie was in-luenced by Griffith's pro-southern biases -admirable or not - just as a book is influenced by itsauthor s biases and beliefs. Many people give short shriftinZ1fi!mthlt;' T7 gen,erall-v accepted notions expressed in the film, including the bitterness of warStill. Griffith said years later. ... because of the socialThTHirrhWhfCn ?egroes *“* achieved ..it is best that fr?m I? 0 t ? on m ,ts Present {or™ be withheldwas mllukeT ^ ***^ ™S?ect' *** dir«*torconlfdefsfthim^i‘?a’'10n 15 3 must see for anyone whocmerge^e ai a11La f“‘ U marks6 as a serious art form.
Newspaper Details
Austin Daily Texan
Austin, Texas, US
Mon, Jan 30, 1978
Page 33
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 15 Jan 2025
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