127 / BD 52 The Birth of a Nation

[Wes Moynihan]

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the film and it's impact.

D.W. Griffith's the Birth of a Nation: A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time

[lubitsch]

Hmm, I'd love a hint what we'll get here because I need a new edition in near future. Is it just the Kino HD version or is it worth waiting because it's the Photoplay or something else?

[JonasEB]

It would be ideal if instead of the normal dual format release with the same version of the film on both discs, the set featured the HD master on the Blu-ray and the Photoplay edition on the DVD (if the latter really is only currently feasible in SD.) It would go a very long way in making it competitive with the Kino BD but I suppose in that scenario MOC is spending much, much more (too much?) on licensing.

[Sloper]

I'm assuming that it will be the MoMA restoration that Kino used but could it be the Photoplay version? I'd love to see that one. For the past few years, the Photoplay website has said that it's going to be released by the BFI but nothing has materialised.

I emailed Photoplay about this, and they replied:

'To answer your question, the release announced by Eureka is definitely not ours. The Photoplay version is still in the works, as we have been anxious to do everything we can to take advantage of the better quality offered by Bluray. The additional costs involved in mastering and digital clean up for that format are considerable. But we are still expecting it to appear through the BFI and hope that we may be able to confirm a release date before too long.'

This certainly sounds much more optimistic than the reply I got two years ago, in which they just said they had had to delay the release due to a lack of funding.

I hope this post doesn't tread on any toes, and I don't mean to crap on the MoC announcement. Obviously it's great news that the film is being re-released in a restored version, and hopefully with some great extras.

But as others have pointed out, the Photoplay version available on PAL VHS is far superior to any of the currently available DVD versions - brilliant re-arrangement of the Breil score by John Lanchbery, extra footage, and more information in the frame (which makes a big difference in one or two places).

I haven't seen the Eureka DVD, but have heard that it is essentially the same as the Kino apart from the tinting. Happy to be corrected if that's not the case. But at the very least, I hope some work might have been done on the score, which sounds so incredibly weak on the available releases. As Lancbery's arrangement shows, this is down to the performance, not the score itself.

[Orlac]

I'd love to see Griffith's horrors One Exciting Night and Sorrows Of Satan get a dvd. The former proves that Griffith learnt NOTHING from the controversy over Birth Of A Nation, with its cowardly "black" characters, one of whom has a stolen war decoration.

Interestingly, I wonder whether Birth would have lasted as long has it continued to be shown as The Clansman, which is how it premiered.

[Drucker]

The inclusion of the Lo Duca version shows that MoC does take the comments here seriously and I find that quite heartwarming. \:D/

That's from the JOAN thread. Perhaps they are holding out for the Photoplay version of BOAN?

[neilist]

The inclusion of the Lo Duca version shows that MoC does take the comments here seriously and I find that quite heartwarming. \:D/

That's from the JOAN thread. Perhaps they are holding out for the Photoplay version of BOAN?

The BFI and MoC won't both be getting rights to the Photoplay version and the comments in the 'The Birth Of A Nation' thread suggested that plans were already happening with the BFI.

[Calvin]

I believe that the BFI/Photoplay Birth of a Nation release has been in the pipeline for quite sometime, way before the MoC version was announced.

[eerik]

... The Birth of a Nation is not coming out this year as it was expected.

Things do seem to have gone very quiet around the MoC issue of 'The Birth Of A Nation' since the comments here that there's a more restored version in preparation for the BFI. It makes sense that it may be on hold at the moment, although it could well still be in the works and has just seen a slight hold up and will be out early next year.

But they are not waiting for Gaumont's expensive restoration of The Passion (which was confirmed to happen already in March 2011), which makes me think they are not going to wait for anything anymore to avoid another Die Nibelungen situation.

[swo17]

For anyone getting antsy:

great set of [Jan-Feb] releases, but are we still getting Birth of a Nation at some point?

Yep.

[TMDaines]

I'm just so happy Tabu has arrived...was worried it would be put to the side. Will pre-order that immediately. May even finally get a copy of Birth Of a Nation.

They'll be my buys too. Pretty much any silent that MoC releases on Blu-ray will get my cash. The transfers are always so beautiful.

[EddieLarkin]

But will BotN be from the same source as the Kino, or the much talked about Photoplay production?

[Drucker]

I'm just so happy Tabu has arrived...was worried it would be put to the side. Will pre-order that immediately. May even finally get a copy of Birth Of a Nation.

They'll be my buys too. Pretty much any silent that MoC releases on Blu-ray will get my cash. The transfers are always so beautiful.

Also, this is probably the first time that extras on a disc could tip it into a "must-buy" for me. I cannot wait to see what they are.

[hearthesilence]

Yeah, I've never had the desire to buy BoN, but if this lives up to their standards I may change my mind.

[swo17]

All we know for now:

Packed with a ton of early Griffith Civil War-related shorts...

[andyli]

According to MovieMail, the extras are:

-Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
-Short archival introductions to the film by D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston
-Newly rediscovered original intermission sequence and 1930 re-release title sequence
-Seven Civil War shorts directed by Griffith: In the Border States (1910)
-The House with Closed Shutters (1910)
-The Fugitive (1910)
-His Trust (1910)
-His Trust Fulfilled (1910)
-Swords and Hearts (1911)
-and The Battle (1911).
-A lengthy booklet with writing about the film, rare archival imagery, and more.

[vsski]

According to MovieMail, the extras are:

-Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
-Short archival introductions to the film by D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston
-Newly rediscovered original intermission sequence and 1930 re-release title sequence
-Seven Civil War shorts directed by Griffith: In the Border States (1910)
-The House with Closed Shutters (1910)
-The Fugitive (1910)
-His Trust (1910)
-His Trust Fulfilled (1910)
-Swords and Hearts (1911)
-and The Battle (1911).
-A lengthy booklet with writing about the film, rare archival imagery, and more.

If this is correct, it basically is the same as disc 1 of the Kino, which has the main movie on BD, and disc 3, which has the same shorts albeit on DVD only, minus the Shepard version with the Breil score, the Making of Documentary (both on disc 2) and the archival documents pertaining to censorship issues (on disc 3), although I bet the MoC booklet will more than make up for that.

Now if the shorts are in 1080p, or the PQ of the main disc is substantially better that could make a difference, but otherwise not sure it's worth to double dip.

[TMDaines]

According to MovieMail, the extras are:

-Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
-Short archival introductions to the film by D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston
-Newly rediscovered original intermission sequence and 1930 re-release title sequence
-Seven Civil War shorts directed by Griffith: In the Border States (1910)
-The House with Closed Shutters (1910)
-The Fugitive (1910)
-His Trust (1910)
-His Trust Fulfilled (1910)
-Swords and Hearts (1911)
-and The Battle (1911).
-A lengthy booklet with writing about the film, rare archival imagery, and more.

If this is correct, it basically is the same as disc 1 of the Kino, which has the main movie on BD, and disc 3, which has the same shorts albeit on DVD only, minus the Shepard version with the Breil score, the Making of Documentary (both on disc 2) and the archival documents pertaining to censorship issues (on disc 3), although I bet the MoC booklet will more than make up for that.

Now if the shorts are in 1080p, or the PQ of the main disc is substantially better that could make a difference, but otherwise not sure it's worth to double dip.

Even if they're 1080p, they may well just be from an SD source or upscaled.

[manicsounds]

Any reason why the 30 minute making of documentary from the Kino disc is not included here although everything else is?

[swo17]

Final specs add these:

• 1993 documentary on the making of the film
• 44-PAGE BOOKLET containing vintage writing by D. W. Griffith, Thomas Dixon, Francis Hackett, Seymour Stern, and Michael Powell, plus rare archival materials.

And remove this:

• Newly rediscovered original intermission sequence

[manicsounds]

DVDBeaver comparison

[Gregor Samsa]

CineOutsider

[Orlac]

Is this making sense from the Cine Outsider review?

According to more than a few reports, director David Wark Griffith insisted his massive movie be under-cranked. I'm mystified as to why. Cameras used to be manually operated, 'cranked' in the silent era so there was never a uniform speed at which the film was exposed. If the film were under-cranked, projectors screening it at a 'normal' speed would make the action look speeded up. Maybe Griffith was aware how long his masterpiece was going to be and chose to tell more story in a shorter amount of time.

[med]

David Wark Griffith, you say!

[EddieLarkin]

Does anyone know what speed the MoC and Kino discs run at? I believe either 15 or 16fps is correct for Birth (to achieve a 190 minute length), and was curious to know how the progressive transfer was achieved? Presumably the same way Potemkin was, with repeated frames? For 16fps within 24p, it would require a repeat of every even numbered frame. Does the MoC booklet go into this at all?