THANK THE MAN WHO INVENTED MOVIES

January 22 . . .

All right . . it’s simplistic and inaccurate to say that D.W. Griffith ‘invented’ movies. But if any one man can be said to have developed the visual lexicon of modern American film, it is David Wark Griffith, born this day in 1875 in La Grange, Kentucky.

He began as a barnstorming actor using the stage name Lawrence Griffith, playing supporting roles in various slap-dash traveling theatrical troupes throughout the South. His courtly manner and distinguished voice did not overcome his somewhat unattractive and stiff physical demeanor, so he turned to playwriting. He failed at that, too – until he decided to try his luck pedaling his scenarios around New York in hopes of selling a story idea suitable for the newfangled fad called moving pictures. At the newly launched Biograph Studios, he found work as both writer and actor, soaking up everything he could learn about the fledgling medium. He was a quick study, developing a phenomenally intuitive understanding of the potential inherent in the exciting new field. Soon he was directing one-and two-reelers for the company, literally conjuring the visual language of film as he went along.

At Biograph, he stopped actors from giving over-the-top ‘stage’ performances, recognizing that the camera exaggerated expression. He developed inherently cinematic techniques – moving the camera, changing the angles, cross-cutting action, incorporating close-ups and rhythmic editing. In ‘The Birth of A Nation’ (1915), his epic feature-length saga of the American Civil War and its effects on a Southern family, he created what many historians regard as the single most important film in the development of cinema. But it was – and remains – controversial for its depiction of the KKK, presented as heroic vigilantes, and the film was justifiably accused of racism. Still, it was a huge success with the public. The film was the ‘Avatar’ of its day.

Griffith’s follow-up project was to be his ultimate masterpiece – and his grandest failure. Today’s Movie A Day is ‘Intolerance’ (1916) – an astonishingly ambitious work of art, gargantuan in scale, and still breathtakingly impressive. Griffith audaciously tells four overlapping stories simultaneously – a retelling of the Passion play, the storming of Babylon, the Huguenots, and a ‘modern day’ tale – gradually blending them all together like a fabric in the majestic climax. Griffith used film as a multi-narrative form that was astonishing in its reach and scale.

Inevitably, the monumentally ambitious film bombed at the box office, and it ruined Griffith financially. He went on to make several more masterpieces – most notably the poetic ‘Broken Blossoms’ (1919) and the historical epic ‘Orphans of the Storm’ (1921) – both starring the luminous Lillian Gish. But Griffith found himself left behind when talkies arrived, an anachronistic symbol of bygone days. He died penniless, proud, and soused, in the Knickerbocker Hotel in 1948, forgotten by all but a few old-timers.

Here's Part 1 of 'Intolerance':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkgSIdOU_cc