A HISTORY OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL MOTION PICTURE EVER MADE
A
hundred years have passed since the masterpiece of David Wark Griffith,
The Birth of a Nation, first appeared on the screens of America, in the
winter of 1915. It demonstrated that the cinema, no less than
literature and no less than the stage, could become a topic of serious
critical, esthetic, intellectual, political, social, and technical
discussion. In this way it brought the motion picture into a position of
commanding influence in the social life of the American nation.
The
denunciation continues, and the storm over the film serves as a
barometer of the global conflict, involving forces and issues set in
motion by, but no means limited to, race. From the beginning it touched
off several emotionally and politically explosive, interrelated,
parallel controversies—controversy over Griffith; controversy over the
film; controversy over the subject-matter and its treatment; controversy
over the controversy.
As Griffith’s official biographer
Seymour Sterns main purpose of his book was to assemble, as extensively
as possible, the rapidly vanishing record of what happened. You’ll find
Stern’s writing on the subject as controversial as the film itself.