This day in history...........

[Meehowski]

On Feb. 8, 1915, D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking as well as controversial silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.

[DudeAsInCool]

The first feature length film. It caused a big stir at the time as some people thought it was racist. As a result, DW Griffith, 'the father of the movies', poured a ton of money into Intolerance, aa epic spanning that theme, most noted for its 4 parallel stories (three of the stories are based on historical fact: Medieval Paris France and slaughter of the Huguenots; the crucifixion of Christ; and the fall of Babylonia--the 4th tale is a "modern" story of a man unjustly accused of murder.), that all culminate and come together in the end.

If you are interested in silent films, you might check out Broken Blossoms--another Lillian Gish movie that Griffith directed--it still holds up today

[Redneck4sure]

I'll ask Koop how much he paid to get in to see it.

[Malicious Intent]

Koop is too pikey for that. He would have sneaked in or downloaded it.

[KiwiCoromandel]

he would have paid $2.00 for a ticket to see the movie...a price thought to be shockingly expensive at the time

A controversial, explicitly racist, but landmark American film masterpiece - these all describe ground-breaking producer/director D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). The domestic melodrama/epic originally premiered with the title The Clansman in January, 1915 in California, but three months later was retitled with the present title at its world premiere in New York, to emphasize the birthing process of the US. The film was based on former North Carolina Baptist minister Rev. Thomas Dixon Jr.'s anti-black, 1905 bigoted play, The Clansman, the second volume in a trilogy:

The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, 1865-1900

The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan

The Traitor

Its release set up a major censorship battle over its vicious, extremist depiction of African Americans, although Griffith naively claimed that he wasn't racist at the time. Unbelievably, the film is still used today as a recruitment piece for Klan membership - and in fact, the organization experienced a revival and membership peak in the decade immediately following its initial release. And the film stirred new controversy when it was voted into the National Film Registry in 1993, and when it was voted one of the "Top 100 American Films" (at # 44) by the American Film Institute in 1998.

Film scholars agree, however, that it is the single most important and key film of all time in American movie history - it contains many new cinematic innovations and refinements, technical effects and artistic advancements, including a color sequence at the end. It had a formative influence on future films and has had a recognized impact on film history and the development of film as art. In addition, at almost three hours in length, it was the longest film to date. However, it still provokes conflicting views about its message.

Director Griffith's original budget of $40,000 (expanded to $60,000) quickly ballooned, so Griffith appealed to businessmen and other investors to help finance the film - that eventually cost $110,000! The propagandistic film was one of the biggest box-office money-makers in the history of film, partly due to its exorbitant charge of $2 per ticket - unheard of at the time. It made $18 million by the start of the talkies. [it was the most profitable film for over two decades, until Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).]

The subject matter of the film caused immediate criticism by the newly-created National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for its racist and "vicious" portrayal of blacks, its proclamation of miscegenation, its pro-Klan stance, and its endorsement of slavery. As a result, two scenes were cut (a love scene between Reconstructionist Senator and his mulatto mistress, and a fight scene). But the film continued to be renounced as "the meanest vilification of the Negro race." Riots broke out in major cities (Boston, Philadelphia, among others), and it was denied release in many other places (Chicago, Ohio, Denver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Minneapolis, eight states in total). Subsequent lawsuits and picketing tailed the film for years when it was re-released (in 1924, 1931, and 1938).

The resulting controversy only helped to fuel the film's box-office appeal, and it became a major hit. Even President Woodrow Wilson during a private screening at the White House is reported to have exclaimed: "It's like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all terribly true." To his credit, Griffith later (by 1921) released a shortened, re-edited version of the film without references to the KKK.

In its explicitly caricaturist presentation of the KKK as heroes and Southern blacks as villains and violent rapists, it appealed to white Americans who subscribed to the mythic, romantic view (similar to Sir Walter Scott historical romances) of the Old Plantation South. Many viewers were thrilled by the love affair between Northern and Southern characters and the climactic rescue scene. The film also thematically explored two great American issues: inter-racial sex and marriage, and the empowerment of blacks. Ironically, although the film was advertised as authentic and accurate, the film's major black roles in the film -- including the Senator's mulatto mistress, the mulatto politican brought to power in the South, and faithful freed slaves -- were stereotypically played and filled by white actors - in blackface. [The real blacks in the film only played in minor roles.]

Its climactic finale, the suppression of the black threat to white society by the glorious Ku Klux Klan, helped to assuage some of America's sexual fears about the rise of defiant, strong (and sexual) black men and the repeal of laws forbidding intermarriage. To answer his critics, director Griffith made a sequel, the magnificent four story epic about human intolerance titled Intolerance (1916).

Edited February 9, 2005 by kiwibank

[DudeAsInCool]

Director Griffith's original budget of $40,000 (expanded to $60,000) quickly ballooned, so Griffith appealed to businessmen and other investors to help finance the film - that eventually cost $110,000! The propagandistic film was one of the biggest box-office money-makers in the history of film, partly due to its exorbitant charge of $2 per ticket - unheard of at the time. It made $18 million by the start of the talkies. [it was the most profitable film for over two decades, until Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).]

Intolerance cost a fortune at the time. "The total cost of production and publicity was two million dollars (MGM rebudgeted the film in 1936 and estimated production costs at ten to twelve million dollars). Because of the film's relative commercial failure and because the entry of the USA into the war in 1917 conflicted with the film's pacifist attitudes, Griffith, who had largely financed the film himself, was financially ruined and was paying debts on the film until his death [in Hollywood in 1948]."

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Oh yeah?

Well today is also:

8- Boy Scouts Day Founded in 1910.

8- Fly a Kite Day (not recommended - see other news)

8- Laugh and grow rich day

[KiwiCoromandel]

8- Laugh and grow rich day

i`ll take this one.....

[DudeAsInCool]

i`ll take this one.....

Ditto

[Kooperman]

Koop is too pikey for that. He would have sneaked in or downloaded it.

Close...I recorded it off of Turner Classic Movies....but long after the original run.

[slum_goddess]

the film is still used today as a recruitment piece for Klan membership

hmmpf. (thank you for the great research kiwibank)

8- Laugh and grow rich day

this doesn't seem to work for me (i'm laughing but i still must get off my ass and get a job) :nope:

[method77]

hey I was a boy scout hehe

It's our birthday

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

9- Hershey's Chocolate founded

9- Toothache Day

9- GI Joe's Birthday (1964)

[KiwiCoromandel]

9- Toothache Day

i`ll take that one today...