D. W. Griffith
Pioneer of film editing and narrative cinema, director of The Birth of a Nation and co-founder of United Artists.
David Wark Griffith was an American film director born on January 22, 1875, in Oldham County, Kentucky.[1][2] Griffith's innovations in editing and narrative filmmaking are considered major contributions to cinema history.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- David Wark Griffith
- Born
- 22 January 1875
- Birthplace
- Oldham County, Kentucky, U.S.
- Died
- 23 July 1948
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Resting place
- Mount Tabor Methodist Church Graveyard; Centerfield, Kentucky, U.S.
- Occupation
- Film director
- screenwriter
- producer
- Years active
- 1895–1931
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Griffith was the son of a Confederate Army colonel and was raised as a Methodist.[2] In 1907 he moved to Hollywood and tried to sell a script to producer Edwin S. Porter.[3] Porter rejected the script but gave Griffith an acting part in Rescued from an Eagle's Nest.[4] Griffith accepted a role at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1908, where he met cameraman Billy Bitzer.[5]
He made his first directorial effort, The Adventures of Dollie, later that year.[5][6] Over the next six years Griffith made over 400 films for Biograph.[3] Griffith directed and produced The Clansman in 1915, later known as The Birth of a Nation, which is considered the first Hollywood epic.[7] The film's depiction of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan aroused much controversy and led to accusations of racism.[7][3]
Griffith's next film, Intolerance (1916), was a quartet of stories about man's inhumanity to man.[3] In 1919 he joined Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks to form United Artists.[8][3] Griffith made two sound films, Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931), which were not successful.[3] After his mother relocated the family to Louisville, Griffith quit high school to earn money, first employed at a dry goods establishment and subsequently at a bookstore.[4]
His initial creative work involved performing with traveling theatre troupes, and his attempts to establish himself as a playwright were largely unsuccessful.[4] Griffith departed from Biograph due to the studio's objections to his ambitions and the excessive spending on his projects.[9][10]
What the cited sources add
The Spartacus-Educational.com account states that film critic David Thompson argued Griffith launched "the greatest star there has ever been"[3] The HistoryNet article notes that Griffith and cameraman Billy Bitzer used a dazzling array of techniques in The Birth of a Nation.[6] The Guardian article describes Griffith's film as depicting black Americans as ignorant rapists and using white performers with blacked-up features.[11] The Senses of Cinema article states that Griffith ran an ad in the Dramatic Mirror boasting of his innovations including close-up figures and the "switchback"[12]
The same source notes that Tom Gunning feels Griffith developed a new narrative form for film through parallel editing.[12] The Spartacus-Educational.com account says Griffith's use of intricate editing and varying camera angles inspired a generation of directors.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "D.W. Griffith"; "Changes in Film Style in the 1910s wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu"; "The Beginnings of Film Narrative", University of California Press (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kenneth, "The Encyclopedia of Louisville", University Press of Kentucky, 2001, p. 359; "D.W. Griffith (1875–1948)"; Kenneth, "The Encyclopedia of Louisville", University Press of Kentucky, 2001, p. 359; Blizek, "The Continuum Companion to Religion and Film", A&C Black, 2009, p. 126 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "D.W. Griffith", Spartacus-Educational.com. facts only, no text reused. spartacus-educational.com
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "D.W. Griffith", Spartacus-Educational.com; "D.W. Griffith", Spartacus-Educational.com; "D.W. Griffith", Spartacus-Educational.com; "American Experience | Mary Pickford", Public Broadcasting Service (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "D.W. Griffith Biography", Starpulse.com, July 23, 1948; "Who's Who of Victorian Cinema", Victorian-cinema.net; "D.W. Griffith Biography", Starpulse.com, July 23, 1948; "D.W. Griffith Biography", Starpulse.com, July 23, 1948 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "'The Birth of a Nation': When Hollywood Glorified the KKK", HistoryNet, June 12, 2006. facts only, no text reused. historynet.com
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "'The Birth of a Nation': When Hollywood Glorified the KKK", HistoryNet, June 12, 2006; Brooks, "The Birth of a Nation: a gripping masterpiece … and a stain on history", The Guardian, July 29, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "DAVID W. GRIFFITH, FILM PIONEER, DIES; Producer of 'Birth of Nation,' 'Intolerance' and 'America' Made Nearly 500 Pictures SET, SCREEN STANDARDS Co-Founder of United Artists Gave Mary Pickford and Fairbanks Their Starts; Woo, "Mo Rothman dies at 92; found new audience for Chaplin", Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "D. W. Griffith" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "D.W. Griffith: Hollywood Independent", Cobbles.com, June 26, 1917; "Fine Arts Studio", Employees.oxy.edu, June 9, 1917 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "D.W. Griffith: Hollywood Independent", Cobbles.com, June 26, 1917. facts only, no text reused. cobbles.com
- Brooks, "The Birth of a Nation: a gripping masterpiece … and a stain on history", The Guardian, July 29, 2013. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- "D.W. Griffith", Senses of Cinema, February 13, 2001. facts only, no text reused. sensesofcinema.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article D. W. Griffith (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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