D.W. Griffith’s greatest triumph remains the most-discussed film of the entire silent era of cinema. Creaky and melodramatic, the film nonetheless still retains much of the emotional power to move audiences — although, today, the pro Ku Klux Klan film tends to move viewers to outraged indignation. The film remains important for its ground-breaking storytelling scope and methods, and probably is the greatest guilty pleasure of cinema in today’s politically-correct world.

Our first look at this two-disc set reveals that this edition has been transferred from high-quality 35mm materials. It is, in fact, identical to the Image edition noted below, being produced by David Shepard, with the original Joseph Breil music score performed by Jon C. Mirsalis.

The edition also contains seven additional short Civil War films directed by D.W. Griffith, including In the Border States (1910), The House with Closed Shutters (1910), The Fugitive (1910), His Trust (1911), His Trust Fulfilled (1911), Swords and Hearts (1911) and The Battle (1911).

Among the supplementary materials is the 1930 sound version introduction to The Birth of a Nation, featuring a staged conversation between D.W. Griffith and actor Walter Huston, mastered from a good 16mm reduction print (6 minutes), a collection of documents presented as “New York vs. The Birth of a Nation,” a reproduction of an article in which Griffith discusses the film, exerpts from the source novel, plus a gallery of posters, ads and programs.

We highly recommend this edition for its high-quality, presentation completeness, and supplemental materials. This edition is also included in Kino’s Griffith Masterworks boxset.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

We have not seen the DVD release of this film. We have seen the 1992 laserdisc version of this release and fully expect this early DVD to be of the same high quality.

David Shepard has assembled to most complete edition of Griffith’s controversial film. When compared to the 1991 Lumivision laserdisc edition (and its subsequent release on DVD), this Image Entertainment edition features restrained sepia and color toning of the picture, some scenes are extended, it has additional shots and scenes not included in other home video editions, and they are all edited together in a much easier to follow continuity. For a film of this age, and considering the fragmented history of the many prints that have survived Griffith’s and censors edits, the film is in very good condition, with some print wear noticable. The only thing available in the laserdisc edition and missing from the DVD edition is the reproduction of the 1915 roadshow programme booklet. Based on our knowledge of the laserdisc version, we recommend this David Shepard edition of The Birth of a Nation.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

This PAL edition is accompanied by the original Joseph Breil music score, and includes a documentary on the making of the film (24 minutes).

United Kingdom: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 2 PAL DVD of this edition from Amazon.co.uk.

This PAL boxset edition includes the above-noted Eureka edition of The Birth of a Nation, plus four other Griffith films from Eureka.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 2 PAL DVD of this edition from Amazon.co.uk.

Surprises never cease if you are prone to assumptions, and we assumed that this budget edition from Catcom Home Video was going to be mastered from a 16mm reduction print like most other low-cost discs. Instead, we were flabbergasted to discover that this disc has been mastered from the same predominantly sepia-toned full-frame proper-speed video transfer produced by David Shepard for the Image Edition noted above. Not manufactured to the same high-quality standards, this edition does have a few video glitches to remind you of how little the disc cost.

The music score performed by a small orchestra and directed by Robert Israel, originally a stereo recording, has been reduced to mono for this release.

If you’re too cheap to purchase either of the high-quality Image or Kino editions, this disc can be found for sale on eBay and represents the highest-value option for the cost.

This budget edition has been mastered from a very-good print that appears to be a 16mm reduction print, which is slightly grayed out but remains quite watchable. The print rarely has blasted out highlights and the shadows remain open and detailed. There is the same amount of speckling, dust and emulsion damage that is present in other surviving prints of the film. The video transfer has been made at close to natural speed and holds all of the detail present in the source print, but we saw at least one instance where a video glitch from the source master tape playback was present in the disc.

The film is accompanied by a canned classical orchestral music that is pleasant enough but it reproduced in varying volume and quality, and rarely has anything to do with what is happening on-screen.

Not a bad edition for the few dollars it costs — in fact it is the best-looking of the cheapy Birth of a Nation DVDs we have reviewed — but we still recommend the Image or Kino editions noted above.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.
United Kingdom: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.co.uk.

You get what you pay for. Just remember that old saying and you may save yourself from wasting a little pocket change.

Ask how you can fit a 180-minute film onto a single-layer DVD and the answer comes back . . . overcompress the video information! While the source material for this DVD edition of The Birth of a Nation utilizes a very-good 16mm reduction print, the MPEG-2 video compression bit rate is low enough (an average of 2.5 megabytes per second) to be obvious in any still frame on any size monitor and remains as apparent in full motion to experienced eyes. The result is a passible picture at first glance, but soon the blocky lack of true detail becomes noticeable and gradually annoying (particularly on monitors larger than 24 inches).

The print itself appears to be on a par in detail and tonal range to the other budget editions of The Birth of a Nation available in Region 1 on DVD. The print’s highlights are rarely blasted out to white, but the grayscale range is a little on the flat and gray side, while image shadows remain open and reasonably detailed. The image framing is generally open, as well.

An orchestral music score has been cobbled together from existing recordings and does a passible job of accompanying the film.

Since there is better to be had, our recommendation is to pass on this one and spend a little more for the Image edition from David Shepard’s Film Preservation Associates.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

This NTSC edition of the Eureka Entertainment edition noted above contains the same presentation, with the original Joseph Breil music score and a documentary on the making of the film.

We have seen the 1991 Lumivision laserdisc version of this edition and fully expect the DVD to be of similar quality, which we would rate around 7 if we were rating it based on the laserdisc. When the 1991 Lumivision laserdisc edition is compared to the 1992 David Shepard/Image Entertainment laserdisc edition (also released on DVD), the Lumivision version that is reproduced on this current DVD features over-saturated color toning of the picture (almost to the point of distraction). We do not know whether the color saturation has been corrected for this edition on DVD. We sometimes recommend that color settings on television monitors be turned down to view over-saturated transfers.

Some scenes in this print were edited and presented in a confusing continuity. But the fault was not with Lumivision or the George Eastman House film archive, suppliers of the 35mm print utilized for the video transfer appearing on this DVD. The Birth of a Nation is well-documented as a film that was under sporadic revision for years after its release at the hands of its direct, D.W. Griffith, and others. It should be no surprise that a straight transfer of an existing original print might render confusing results. Still, for a film of this age, and considering the fragmented history of the many prints that have survived Griffith’s and censors edits, the film is in very good condition, with some print wear noticeable.

The original music score is performed on synthesizers, and the disc also features exerpts from The Birth of a Race (1918), a feature film response to The Birth of a Nation.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.

This budget edition was transferred from a 16mm reduction print of the 1930 sound rerelease version. Due to the low camera-cranking rate of early Griffith films (approximately 15 FPS) and to the 24 FPS speed at which the sound rerelease was duplicated, the film’s action zips by with unintended comic effect.

The 16mm reduction print utilized for the video transfer is very soft of image detail, with gray highlights and deep shadows. A persistent hair in the gate of the negative-to-positive duplication stage shows up at the bottom of the frame of the early reels. There is a little print dust, but almost no speckling. There are also a few twitchy video glitches that have been allowed to go by, such as at 4:21 into the disc.

The film’s accompaniment is the music score compiled by Louis F. Gottschalk as recorded, with sound effects, for the sound rerelease. It is reproduced here from the optical soundtrack of the 16mm print in all its noisy, hissing mono glory.

This edition has made the sound rerelease version available to collectors who are completists, and it might be of some value for that reason, but do not let this shortened, blurry, manic version be your first exposure to this great film.

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.
Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca.

What would you expect for five dollars?

USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com.

This double feature edition also includes an early Griffith sound film. Don’t expect much.

These cheap editions keep proliferating like cockroaches. Don’t expect much from these discs that pop up on eBay and in low-ball stores like Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s and dollar-marts everywhere. The disc has likely been mastered from a 16mm reduction print.

This DVD-R edition has been transferred from a 16mm reduction print, with the sound-film synchronized music and sound effects track from 1930.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc is available directly from Reel Classic DVD.

Other D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.

Other silent era LILLIAN GISH films available on home video.

Other silent era Mae Marsh films available on home video:
Hoodoo Ann (1916)

Other silent era ERICH VON STROHEIM films available on home video.