Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/462877
19 WINTER 2015 / CINEMONTAGE swiftly grew past the filmmaker's 19th-century dramatic sensibilities but, as Charlie Chaplin noted at Griffith's death in 1948, "The whole industry owes its existence to him." There is also no way around the influence of the film's view of the Civil War and Reconstruction on how Americans as a people regard one another — and how movies reflect and influence our own attitudes. Its carefully researched historical trappings give credence to a deeply biased distortion of history. A volatile mix of real emotion and tawdry sentiment, the movie undercuts the critical assumption that technical innovation in and of itself gives it the authority of great or meaningful art. Two images sharply contrast the perception and blindness that pervade Griffith's understanding of humanity and history. Halfway through the film, after a romanticized yet realistic depiction of war, the son of a plantation owner returns to his ravaged homeland. In his ragged uniform, he pauses at the entrance of his house as the arm of his unseen mother emerges to draw him inside the door. It is a touching evocation of loss, human ties and enduring hope. Near the film's end, in close-up, the huge fist of a black man is held in threat against the terrified face of the white heroine, played by Lillian Gish. In an over-the-top melodramatic portrayal of Reconstruction, this daughter of a "misguided" abolitionist is being forced into marriage with a "mulatto" politician who proclaims his intention to "build a Black Empire and you as a Queen shall sit by my side." For what it's worth, The Birth of a Nation is the first real movie — the first feature-length motion picture to register that sustained enjoyment of being caught up completely in a film's world. Its opening marks the real birth of the movies as a popular storytelling medium. It was the first to fully involve an audience emotionally in a richly detailed story, conveying a whole theme and embodying a whole world-view. It also demonstrated the power of craft to celebrate the false. More than anyone, Griffith transformed static, verbosely intertitled, stage-like tableaux into dynamic narratives engaging audiences through imagery, varied camera placement, camera movement and editing. Though he did not introduce specific techniques like the close-up, POV or cross cutting, he was the first to integrate the increasing variety of cinematic elements into a fluid pictorial narrative that prompted emotional identification with the story. Starting in 1908, in about 450 short films made for the Biograph Company, Griffith developed a pictorial language of observation and visual implication to convey character, motivation and plot. Spurred by the epic scope and action of early Italian features to make longer movies, he left Biograph in 1913 to sign with Harry Aitken's Reliance-Majestic Studios, the producing wing of the Mutual Film Corporation. Griffith brought with him from Biograph his favorite actors, including Gish, Henry Walthall and Mae Marsh, as well as cameraman "Billy" Bitzer and editor James Smith. Rose Richtel became Smith's editing partner at Reliance-Majestic and his partner- in-life when they married during the production of Griffith's Intolerance in 1916. They edited many of Griffith's features together. Moving his troupe to Los Angeles, the director quickly produced four short Mutual features. Then Aitken gave him a $40,000 budget for a 10-reel Civil War feature for the 50th anniversary of the conflict's end. The sum was four times the usual amount spent Poster art for The Birth of a Nation, Photofest.