It's fascinating watching a 100 year old movie that was made 50 years after the Civil War, When the film came out in 1915, the war was still fresh on the minds of the filmmakers and the audience, who was going to the movies at that time. Watching the film today it seems like those two things mesh together and you are watching a living, breathing history lesson, regardless of authenticity from the source material.
Note* - the film is based on the book "The Clansman" written by Thomas Dixon JR, a North Carolina Baptist Minister in 1905.
The film covers the Emancipation Proclamation, the War, the Assassination of Lincoln, Reconstruction and black males getting the right to vote, which for timeline purposes, the women's right to vote (white or black), wouldn't happen until the actual release of this film, four years later in 1919. It also tells the story about how the original Klu Klux Klan was formed in the 1870s and why Griffith and the film fell under such scandal, because he painted a picture justifying a false need for the Klan, in fact, the KKK had been all but vanquished until the release of this film and it would influence the second arrival of the Klan and the, all too familiar nightmares we would know of in the 20th Century. The film is a discomforting juxtaposition of history. The use of white-actors with black make-up and the use of the "N" word is unnerving, but the film does show you how far we have come today and the important lessons that have been learned since then.
The most recognizable face in the film is Lillian Gish. The actor playing Abraham Lincoln is dead on perfect (Joseph Hanebery). This film is clearly an epic for the time it came out, but I worry that the need to establish a connection to the book for accuracy (?), makes the film slow in parts. It is groundbreaking and introduces film techniques that are still in use today. It is an amazing achievement for 1915 and despite the film's inaccuracies and backwards depiction of a dark part of our history, it is something that needs to be seen. It also has a wild ending that I wasn't expecting.
7.6 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB
Note* - the film is based on the book "The Clansman" written by Thomas Dixon JR, a North Carolina Baptist Minister in 1905.
The film covers the Emancipation Proclamation, the War, the Assassination of Lincoln, Reconstruction and black males getting the right to vote, which for timeline purposes, the women's right to vote (white or black), wouldn't happen until the actual release of this film, four years later in 1919. It also tells the story about how the original Klu Klux Klan was formed in the 1870s and why Griffith and the film fell under such scandal, because he painted a picture justifying a false need for the Klan, in fact, the KKK had been all but vanquished until the release of this film and it would influence the second arrival of the Klan and the, all too familiar nightmares we would know of in the 20th Century. The film is a discomforting juxtaposition of history. The use of white-actors with black make-up and the use of the "N" word is unnerving, but the film does show you how far we have come today and the important lessons that have been learned since then.
The most recognizable face in the film is Lillian Gish. The actor playing Abraham Lincoln is dead on perfect (Joseph Hanebery). This film is clearly an epic for the time it came out, but I worry that the need to establish a connection to the book for accuracy (?), makes the film slow in parts. It is groundbreaking and introduces film techniques that are still in use today. It is an amazing achievement for 1915 and despite the film's inaccuracies and backwards depiction of a dark part of our history, it is something that needs to be seen. It also has a wild ending that I wasn't expecting.
7.6 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB