A Misguided Landmark

Rating: 7/10 (28 February 2000)

The commentor who compares this movie to "Triumph of the Will" is right on the mark in many ways: this is the American equivalent to Leni Riefenstahl's propoganda masterpiece. It was a great technical achievement for its time which has been critically undermined for modern audiences by its political subtext. I would advise anyone interested in film history to see this for the first half, which is a quaint but effective depiction of the Civil War. The second half, depicting reconstruction in the South, is unfortunately nothing but a shockingly simplistic glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, although it also contains some excellent examples of Griffith's pioneering advancements in film technique.
Probably the kindest thing you can say about Griffith is that his racial views were seriously misguided. The only black characters he views with sympathy are the two "faithful souls", the Cameron's old family slaves,who are content to remain servile and blindly obedient to their white masters after the Civil War has ended. The rest are all ignorant, drunken "children" who need white men to lead them and care for them. The worst in Griffith's eyes, however, are the two mulatto characters, who are depicted basically as evil incarnate.
To modern eyes, also, Mae Marsh gives a performance as the "little sister" that makes the character seem to need sedation. Lillian Gish is fine until the very end, when, kidnapped by the mulatto lieutenant governor who wants her to be his empress ruling over his "black empire" (I kid you not), she engages in the most melodramatic,hysterical flailing-about imaginable. The finale, where she rides at the head of a parade of Klansmen, was enough to make this long-time admirer of hers cringe with embarassment.
Ah well, its best just to remember that this was all filmed in 1914, and thank our lucky stars that times have changed.