The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Fiery Cross of the Ku Klux Klan!
195 min
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
- Release date
- January 1, 1915
- Country of origin
- United States
- Music
- Joseph Carl Breil, D.W. Griffith
- Budget
- $100,000
- Box office
- $100,000,000
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Trailer
Cast
- Lillian Gish as Elsie - Stoneman's Daughter
- Mae Marsh as Flora Cameron - The Pet Sister
- Henry B. Walthall as Col. Ben Cameron aka The Little Colonel
- Miriam Cooper as Margaret Cameron - The Elder Sister
- Mary Alden as Lydia Brown - Stoneman's Mulatto Housekeeper
- Ralph Lewis as Hon. Austin Stoneman - Leader of the House
- George Siegmann as Silas Lynch - Mulatto Lieut. Governor
- Walter Long as Gus - A Renegade Negro
- Robert Harron as Tod - Stoneman's Younger Son
- Wallace Reid as Jeff - The Blacksmith
- Joseph Henabery as Abraham Lincoln
- Elmer Clifton as Stoneman's Elder Son Phil
- Josephine Crowell as Mrs. Cameron
- Spottiswoode Aitken as Dr. Cameron
- George Beranger as Wade Cameron
- Maxfield Stanley as Duke Cameron
- Jennie Lee as Mammy
- Donald Crisp as Gen. U.S. Grant
- Howard Gaye as Gen. Robert E. Lee
- Sam De Grasse as Senator Charles Sumner (uncredited)
- William De Vaull as Nelse (uncredited)
- Tom Wilson as Stoneman's Servant (uncredited)
- Fred Burns as Klansman (uncredited)
- Allan Sears as Klansman (uncredited)
- Elmo Lincoln as Blacksmith (uncredited)
- Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Black Woman (uncredited)
- Raoul Walsh as John Wilkes Booth (uncredited)
- Monte Blue as (uncredited)
Crew
- D.W. Griffith · Director
- Thomas Dixon Jr. · Writer
- D.W. Griffith · Writer
- Frank E. Woods · Writer
- Woodrow Wilson · Writer
- D.W. Griffith · Producer
- Joseph Carl Breil · Composer
- D.W. Griffith · Composer
- G.W. Bitzer · Cinematographer
- D.W. Griffith · Editor
- Joseph Henabery · Editor
- James Smith · Editor
- Rose Smith · Editor