Griffith (1875 - 1948) had a long career and made many films. He wa not always, or even usually, successful in financial or, indeed, artistic, terms, but he is often regarded as being more responsible for the development of film language than anyone else.

He is remembered for several films, but by far the two most famous are Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916).

Birth of a Nation, the first 'blockbuster', was by the far the most popular movie of its day. Its plot deals with the supposed role of the Ku Klux Klan in defending white America - it is an extremely racist film, and received much criticism for this. It is watched now for the advances it made in storytelling rather than its content:



Look at the scene from approximately 1.40 minutes onwards - what do you notice? Here we have the beginnings of CONTINUITY EDITING (also known as invisible editing or the classic Hollywood style.) It strives to fool the viewer into not noticing the cuts betwen shots, and it is still what most editors aim for today:






Despite its huge popularity, critics were scathing about the film, largely due to its inaccurate take on history, Griffith responded to these accusations with the epic - in every way - Intolerance (1916). Taking time-space manipulation to rather more ambitious levels, this film covers 2500 years of human history, focusing on four periods or events (Babylonian times, the life of Christ, teh French Revolution and modern America (that is, 1914 America.) It tells four separate stories - a portmanteau narrative - and this was seen as revolutionary. (Indeed, it's still seen as quite cutting-edge today when people like Quentin Tarantino do similar things!) It was by far the most expensive film ever made - and, unfortunately, it flopped, driving the studio that made it out of business.



Intolerance Pt 1 (the contemporary part)



Intolerance Pt 4 (Babylon)

IB FILM(SIS)

IB FILM (KGV)

Continuity Editing

Realism

History of Film