Birth of a Nation (The)
- Director: D.W. Griffith
- Writer: D.W. Griffith; Frank E. Woods; Thomas Dixon Jr.
- Producer: D.W. Griffith; H.E. Aitken
CGiii Comment
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine in director D.W. Griffith's controversial Civil War epic. 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 protege, Silas Lynch.
Trailer...
Cast & Characters
Henry B. Walthall as Colonel Ben Cameron aka The Little Colonel;
Lillian Gish as Elsie - Stoneman's Daughter;
Mae Marsh as Flora Cameron - the Pet Sister;
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 Phil - Stoneman's Elder Son;
Josephine Crowell as Mrs. Cameron;
Spottiswoode Aitken as Dr. Cameron;
George Beranger as Wade Cameron - the Second Son;
Maxfield Stanley as Duke Cameron - the Youngest Son;
Jennie Lee as Mammy - the Faithful Servant;
Donald Crisp as General Ulysses .S. Grant;
Howard Gaye as General Robert E. Lee;
Raoul Walsh as John Wilkes Booth