Directed by:
D.W. GriffithScreenplay:
D.W. GriffithCinematography:
G.W. BitzerCast:
Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden, Ralph Lewis, George Siegmann, Walter Long, Robert Harron, Wallace Reid, Joseph Henabery (more)Plots(1)
The Birth of a Nation begins depicting the amiable relationship between two families, Northern and Southern, and the way in which the impending Civil War intensifies the conflict of their worldviews. Following the end of the war and the assassination of President Lincoln, a lawless chaos courses throughout the Reconstruction South, and the Ku Klux Klan is formed to take on a rising black militia and impose a vengeful vigilante justice across their land and "birthright". It's a film that's deeply divisive even to the senses of a single viewer: images of painterly beauty in composition and tonal quality often exhibit a contemptuous, inflammatory coarseness with regard to subject matter; just as frequently, long tracts evince an innocent, terrifically lyrical grandeur. (Eureka Entertainment)
(more)Cast
![Walter Huston](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/164/360/164360037_3bc864.png)
Walter Huston
Canada
Best movies:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Great Sinner (1949)
![D.W. Griffith](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/269/269618_952843.jpg)
D.W. Griffith
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Hearts of the World (1918)
![Gibson Gowland](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/496/496792_5cf679.jpg)
Gibson Gowland
UK
Best movies:
Sunrise (1927)
Gaslight (1944)
Behind the Door (1919)
![Eugene Pallette](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/042/871/42871853_4c480b.jpg)
Eugene Pallette
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Peggy Cartwright
Canada
Best movies:
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
The Iron Horse (1924)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
![Monte Blue](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/421/421420_17c187.jpg)
Monte Blue
USA
Best movies:
Gentleman Jim (1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Adventures of Don Juan (1948)
![Alma Rubens](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/031/567/31567914_0677bc.jpg)
Alma Rubens
USA
Best movies:
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
The Half-Breed (1916)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
![George Walsh](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/855/159855510_7f3dc7.jpg)
George Walsh
USA
Best movies:
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
Cleopatra (1934)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
![Jules White](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/157/886/157886809_47b5f5.jpg)
Jules White
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
![Russell Hicks](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/000/159000093_e450a1.jpg)
Russell Hicks
USA
Best movies:
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
Scarlet Street (1945)
The Little Foxes (1941)
![Edmund Burns](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/011/160011774_4993d7.jpg)
Edmund Burns
USA
Best movies:
It Happened One Night (1934)
Male and Female (1919)
The Death Kiss (1932)
Bob Burns
USA
Best movies:
Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)
The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)
The Plainsman (1936)
![Sam De Grasse](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/224/161224826_3cc6d3.jpg)
Sam De Grasse
Canada
Best movies:
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
Robin Hood (1922)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
![Charles Stevens](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/603/161603601_6693ef.jpg)
Charles Stevens
USA
Best movies:
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Howard Gaye
Best movies:
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Tom Wilson
USA
Best movies:
The Kid (1921)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Captain Blood (1935)
Vester Pegg
USA
Best movies:
Stagecoach (1939)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
Josephine Crowell
Canada
Best movies:
Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's (1965) - a.f.
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Speedy (1928)