Cast:
Lindsay Anderson (narrator), D.W. Griffith (a.f.), Lillian Gish (a.f.), Frank Capra (a.f.), Andrew L. Stone, Zita Johann, Alexandra of Denmark (a.f.) (more)Plots(1)
In this three-part documentary, celebrated film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill tell the proud, sad story of D.W. Griffith (1875-1948): the man who first brought artistry and ambition to the movies, and then, having dragged a reluctant American film industry to international prominence, found it had no more use for him. Judiciously chosen film clips illustrate exactly how, within seven years of going to work for the Biograph Studios in 1908, Griffith painstakingly refined camera and acting techniques; how trial and error led him to create a grammar that was the cinema’s own; and how, in 1915, he presented the fully-fledged film masterwork The Birth of a Nation. Griffith strove to outdo himself in skill, spectacle and soaring ambition, and Brownlow and Gill illuminate the successes that highlighted his career: Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, Way Down East and Orphans of the Storm. A wealth of background detail is provided by vivid accounts of Griffith at work (from Lillian Gish, Blanche Sweet, Karl Brown, Stanley Cortez, among others), and by a comprehensive account of the great controversy sparked by The Birth of a Nation. With its extensive historic details and dazzling extracts from beautifully tinted prints, Brownlow and Gill’s three-part documentary is the perfect reminder of just how great Griffith’s achievements were. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Lindsay Anderson (narrator)
India
Best movies:
O Lucky Man! (1973)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Blame It on the Bellboy (1992)
D.W. Griffith (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Hearts of the World (1918)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Lillian Gish (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
The Wind (1928)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Frank Capra (a.f.)
Italy
Andrew L. Stone
USA
Zita Johann
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Tiger Shark (1932)
The Mummy (1932)
Alexandra of Denmark (a.f.)
Denmark
Joseph M. Schenck (a.f.)
Russian Empire
Charlie Chaplin (a.f.)
UK
Best movies:
The Chaplin Revue (1959)
The Kid (1921)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Dorothy Gish (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Hearts of the World (1918)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
The Cardinal (1963)
Neil Hamilton (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
America (1924)
Walter Huston (a.f.)
Canada
Best movies:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Edge of Darkness (1943)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Louis B. Mayer (a.f.)
Russian Empire
Adolphe Menjou (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Paths of Glory (1957)
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Zelig (1983) - a.f.
Mack Sennett (a.f.)
Canada
Erich von Stroheim (a.f.)
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Greed (1924)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)