The Birth of a Nation (1915)

60% User Rating

3h 15min

"The Fiery Cross of the Ku Klux Klan!"

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.

D.W. GriffithDirector

Cast

View Cast & Crew

Lillian Gish

Stoneman's Daughter Elsie

Mae Marsh

Flora Cameron

Henry B. Walthall

Col. Ben Cameron

Miriam Cooper

Margaret Cameron

Mary Alden

Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia

Ralph Lewis

Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman

George Siegmann

Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch

Walter Long

Gus

Robert Harron

Tod

Wallace Reid

Jeff, the Blacksmith

Joseph Henabery

Abraham Lincoln

Elmer Clifton

Stoneman's Elder Son Phil

Josephine Crowell

Mrs. Cameron

Spottiswoode Aitken

Dr. Cameron

George Beranger

Wade Cameron

Maxfield Stanley

Duke Cameron

Jennie Lee

Mammy

Donald Crisp

Gen. U.S. Grant

Howard Gaye

Gen. Robert E. Lee

Sam De Grasse

Senator Charles Sumner (uncredited)

William De Vaull

Nelse (uncredited)

Willam Freeman

Jake / Sentry at Hospital (uncredited)

Tom Wilson

Stoneman's Servant (uncredited)

Fred Burns

Klansman (uncredited)

Allan Sears

Klansman (uncredited)

Elmo Lincoln

Blacksmith (uncredited)

Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Black Woman (uncredited)

Raoul Walsh

John Wilkes Booth (uncredited)

Monte Blue

(uncredited)

Harry Braham

Cameron's Male Servant (uncredited)

Bob Burns

Klan Leader (uncredited)

Edmund Burns

Klansman (uncredited)

Edward Burns

Klansman (uncredited)

Peggy Cartwright

Young Girl in Cabin (uncredited)

Dark Cloud

General (uncredited)

Leonore Cooper

Elsie's Maid (uncredited)

Charles Eagle Eye

Man Who Falls from Roof (uncredited)

John Ford

Klansman (uncredited)

Olga Grey

Laura Keene (uncredited)

Alberta Lee

Mrs. Lincoln (uncredited)

Betty Marsh

Child with Dr. Cameron (uncredited)

Donna Montran

Belle of 1861 (uncredited)

Eugene Pallette

Union Soldier (uncredited)

Alma Rubens

Belle of 1861 (uncredited)

Charles Stevens

Volunteer (uncredited)

Jules White

Confederate Soldier (uncredited)

Violet Wilkey

Young Flora Cameron (uncredited)

David Butler

Northern Soldier / Confederate Soldier (uncredited)

Reviews (1)

All Reviews

prabhushakti

Rating 100%

March 3, 2018

He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; thebirth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man. - James Agee Griffith demonstrated to every filmmaker and moviegoer who followed him what a movie was, and what a movie could be. - Roger Ebert