Epic

The Birth of a Nation tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The Stonemans hail from the North, the Camerons from the South. When war breaks out, the Stonemans cast their lot with the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie. After the war, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), distressed that his beloved south is now under the rule of blacks and carpetbaggers, organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When Cameron's beloved younger sister Flora (Mae Marsh) leaps to her death rather than surrender to the lustful advances of renegade slave Gus (Walter Long), the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores 'order' to the South.

The longest and most expensive American film made as of 1915, Birth opened to raves for its artistry and record-breaking box office returns, helping to legitimize movies as 'respectable' entertainment. Its force was hardly all positive, however, as the NAACP organized a public campaign against the film and demanded that Griffith make cuts; the film was banned in several states for its racism, race riots broke out after its Boston premiere, and it directly influenced the 20th century reemergence of the Klan. As paradoxical proof of its cinematic power, Birth of a Nation still arouses protests decades after it was made.

D.W. Griffith

Henry B. Walthall - Ben Cameron the Little Colonel
Miriam Cooper - Margaret Cameron
Mae Marsh - Flora Cameron, the Little Sister
Lillian Gish - Elsie Stoneman
Robert Harron - Ted Stoneman
Ralph Lewis - The Honorable Austin Stoneman, Leader of the House Wallace Reid - Jeff, the blacksmith
George Siegmann - Silas Lynch
Charles Stevens - Volunteer
Maxfield Stanley - Duke Cameron
Eugene Pallette - Wounded Enemy to Whom Ben Gives Succor
John Ford - Klansman
Donald Crisp - Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Elmer Clifton - Phil Stoneman
Raoul Walsh - John Wilkes Booth

Epoch