The Films of D. W. Griffith

by Scott Simmon

The Films of D. W. Griffith serves as an introduction to, and a cultural argument for, the work of the first widely acknowledged master filmmaker. Situating D. W. Griffith within film history and American studies, Scott Simmon addresses Griffith's competing reputations as a genius of cinematic form and a retrograde purveyor of reactionary and racist tales. His study includes extended discussion of Griffith's controversial drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction, The Birth of a Nation, and of his grandiose historical epic, Intolerance, but identifies his enduring work within the approximately 450 shorter films that he directed for the Biograph Company between 1908 and 1913, years of rapid change in the film industry. Major discussion is given to the evolution of Griffith's Biograph films about contemporary city life and to his early domestic melodramas or 'woman's films'. In this cultural reading, Griffith's films are located at a crisis point between two centuries, drawing power from the popular attitudes of nineteenth-century America as they create the patterns for the twentieth century's most distinctive art form.

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 1993

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Simmon's words are filled with enthusiasm and minuscule details that helps even the unfamiliar become familiar to D.W. Griffith's works.

The chapters are organized and divided into five sections. The first chapter gives you an overview of the filmmaker's background and early reelers. As the book progresses, it explores several large themes that pertains to Griffith's large body of work: beginning with urban dramas, to woman's films, to Civil War dramas, etc. Each theme is supported by specific examples from Griffith's films, and sometimes Simmon's provides stills to illustrate his examples.

The book is highly academic and deserves several reads before the typical "armchair voyeur" can understand Griffith. This book serves as a nice companion piece to anyone who wants to learn more about Griffith's background, motivations, themes and of course his movies.