Film Nitrate

D.W. Griffith's epic The Birth of a Nation is a very difficult film to write about. This review has been a nightmare, and even after finishing it I almost wish I'd never started it. There's so much background to the film, it's hard to be judgmental without understanding the motives and context. This is primarily because of the immense controversy that will forever follow the film, but it's also the one film that could be said to have influenced cinema more than any other. It's unfortunate that such a pivotal and important film was to depict (not very accurately) one of the United States' most shameful periods, at the height of slavery. In spite of this, however, to look at the film objectively there's still no mistaking the immense power it has. At a massive twelve reels, and with a runtime of over three hours, it was well over twice as long as any feature film any audience had ever seen, and pioneered the use of many camera techniques which are now ...

Hand coloured. The way Edwin S. Porter wanted it, apparently. Over the last few days I've been having a bit of a D.W. Griffith marathon but after watching the spectacular The Birth of a Nation over the last couple of days I could do with something a bit more light-hearted before I get round to reviewing that controversial title. So I went back to my cinema mapbook, 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die , for another classic early silent. As I covered A Trip To The Moon last time, it seems logical to look at the book's next-oldest film, Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery. The Great Train Robbery has been praised as a film which introduced a number of new techniques which are now used in practically every production. A good example of this is cross-cutting, where the camera cuts to show two different locations, both with action occurring, but shown to be happening at the same time. Though it's notable here for its introduction, it would still be another...