D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) скачать в хорошем качестве

D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915)

The film consists of two parts. Part 1: Civil War of United States The film follows two juxtaposed families. One is the Northern Stonemans. Abolitionist U.S. Representative Austin Stoneman (Ralph Lewis), based on the Reconstruction-era Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, his daughter, Elsie Stoneman (Lillian Gish), and two sons (Elmer Clifton & Robert Harron). The other is the Southern Camerons. Dr. Cameron (Spottiswoode Aitken), his wife (Josephine Crowell), their three sons (Henry B. Walthall, George Beranger & Maxfield Stanley), and two daughters (Miriam Cooper & Mae Marsh). Phil (Elmer Clifton), the elder Stoneman son, falls in love with Margaret Cameron (Miriam Cooper), and Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), modeled after Leroy McAfee, idolizes a picture of Elsie Stoneman. When the Civil War arrives, the young men of both families enlist in their respective armies. The younger Stoneman and two of the Cameron brothers are killed in the Siege of Petersburg, led by Ben Cameron, and the Cameron women are rescued by Confederate soldiers who rout a black militia after an attack on the Cameron home. Ben Cameron leads a heroic final charge, but is wounded, captured, and taken to a Union military hospital in Washington, D.C. At the hospital, he is told that he will be hanged, and meets Elsie Stoneman, working as a nurse. Elsie takes Cameron's mother to see Abraham Lincoln, and persuades the President to pardon Ben. When Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theatre, his conciliatory postwar policy expires with him, and Austin Stoneman and other Radical Republicans are determined to punish the South, employing harsh measures that Griffith depicts as having been typical of the Reconstruction Era. The first part closes with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, after which there is an intermission. Part 2: Reconstruction Stoneman and his protégé Silas Lynch (George Siegmann), a psychopathic mulatto, modeled after Alonzo J. Ransier and Richard Howell Gleaves, ] head to South Carolina to observe the implementation of Reconstruction policies first hand. During the election, in which Lynch is elected lieutenant governor, blacks are observed stuffing the ballot boxes, while many whites are denied the vote. The newly elected, mostly black members of the South Carolina legislature are shown at their desks displaying racially stereotypical behavior. Meanwhile, inspired by observing white children pretending to be ghosts to scare black children, Ben fights back by forming the Ku Klux Klan. As a result, Elsie breaks off her relationship with Ben. Later, Gus (portrayed in blackface by white actor Walter Long), a freedman and soldier confronts Flora and tells her that he desires to get married. Trapped on a precipice, Flora warns Gus she will jump if he comes any closer. When he does, she leaps to her death. In response, the Klan hunts down Gus, tries him, finds him guilty, and lynches him. Elsie, learning of Dr. Cameron's arrest, goes to Lynch to plead for his release. Lynch, who had been lusting after Elsie, tries to force her to marry him Stoneman returns, causing Elsie to be placed in another room. At first Stoneman is happy when Lynch tells him he wants to marry a white woman, but he is then angered when Lynch tells him that it is Stoneman's own daughter that he wishes to marry against her will. The Klan gathered together, with Ben leading them, ride in to gain control of the town. When news about Elsie reaches Ben, he and others go to her rescue. Lynch is captured. Victorious, the Klansmen celebrate in the streets. The next election day, blacks find a line of mounted and armed Klansmen just outside their homes and are intimidated into not voting. Margaret Cameron marries Phil Stoneman and Elsie Stoneman marries Ben Cameron in a double wedding. The masses are shown oppressed by a giant warlike figure. The scene shifts to a group finding peace under the image of Jesus Christ. A 1915 American silent epic film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play "The Clansman". Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the film with Harry Aitken. A landmark of film history, it was the first non-serial American 12-reel film ever made, and it was the first American-made film to have a musical score for an orchestra. It pioneered closeups and fadeouts, and it includes a carefully staged battle sequence with hundreds of extras (another first) made to look like thousands. The film has been denounced for its racist depiction of African Americans, as unintelligent and sexually aggressive toward white women. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is portrayed as a heroic force, necessary to preserve American values, protect white women, and maintain white supremacy. The film was controversial even before its release, and it has remained so ever since; it has been called "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history".