The history flawed,but the cinema's first masterpiece still moves

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2003)

Many people seeing this film today cannot help but view it in the context of modern racial attitudes.Griffith's (and Dixon's) history is highly flawed,and the film's racial viewpoint was more than offensive to many in it's day,and time has not improved them any.Also most people upon first viewing the film they've heard called a masterpiece are suprised to find that it's not full of all sorts of new trick shots,but rather that it is a well structured and finely crafted film that can hold it's own with anyhing made today. What they don't realize is the startling advance it was in film making compared to the average feature of it's own era(1914-1915.) If onne see "The Birth" AFTER first seeing something like Theda Bara's 1914 film,"A Fool there was",just how much better and what an advane "The Birth"was becomes immediately apparent! The thing that has always amazed me about the film is how strong it's abbility to draw in it's viewers still is! This is perhaps the strongest reason for the many who still oppose showings of this movie almost 90 years after it was made! I was lucky enough years ago to talk with my paternal grandmother,who told me of seing the film in it's initial New York run at a "legitimate" stage house,The Liberty Theater on Broadway at $2 top for reserved seats,(which was what one paid to see a Broadway show in those days) acompanied by a full orchestra.
A closing note in these days where the box office gross is the measure of a movies worht.We will probably Never now how much the film has grossed (and it's still in paying exhibition),but we can safely say that "The Birth of a Nation" has ben seen by more people than any other American film.