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Group of Klansmen surround freedman Gus (played by white actor Walter Long in blackface) in a scene from director D. W. Griffith's 1915 motion picture "The Birth of a Nation."

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Summary

Public domain photograph of stereoscopic card, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description

By 1908 there were 10,000 permanent movie theaters in the U.S. alone. For the first thirty years, movies were silent, accompanied by live musicians, sound effects, and narration. Until World War I, movie screens were dominated by French and Italian studios. During Great War, the American movie industry center, "Hollywood," became the number one in the world. By the 1920s, the U.S. was producing an average of 800 feature films annually, or 82% of the global total. Hollywood's system and its publicity method, the glamourous star system provided models for all movie industries. Efficient production organization enabled mass movie production and technical sophistication but not artistic expression. In 1915, in France, a group of filmmakers began experimenting with optical and pictorial effects as well as rhythmic editing which became known as French Impressionist Cinema. In Germany, dark, hallucinatory German Expressionism put internal states of mind onscreen and influenced the emerging horror genre. The Soviet cinema was the most radically innovative. In Spain, Luis Buñuel embraced abstract surrealism and pure aestheticism. And, just like that, at about its peak time, the silent cinema era ended in 1926-1928.

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long walter 1879 1952 ku klux klan 19th cent african americans in motion pictures racism in motion pictures ethnic stereotypes film stills schomburg center for research in black culture photographs and prints division the birth of a nation motion picture stills collection actor walter long freedman gus ultra high resolution high resolution d w griffith motion picture stills collection nation birth motion picture griffith director d director scene blackface long walter actor gus freedman klansmen group birth of a nation 1915 team photography colonel ben cameron phil stoneman united states the birth of a nation silent epic blockbuster motion pictures movies silent films new york public library
date_range

Date

1915
person

Contributors

Griffith, D. W. (David Wark), 1875-1948, Director
Long, Walter, 1879-1952
Ku Klux Klan (19th cent.)
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in collections

Silent Film Era

Silent Cinema: 1908-1926
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Source

New York Public Library
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Link

http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
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Copyright info

Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication")

label_outline Explore Motion Picture Stills Collection, D W Griffith, The Birth Of A Nation

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long walter 1879 1952 ku klux klan 19th cent african americans in motion pictures racism in motion pictures ethnic stereotypes film stills schomburg center for research in black culture photographs and prints division the birth of a nation motion picture stills collection actor walter long freedman gus ultra high resolution high resolution d w griffith motion picture stills collection nation birth motion picture griffith director d director scene blackface long walter actor gus freedman klansmen group birth of a nation 1915 team photography colonel ben cameron phil stoneman united states the birth of a nation silent epic blockbuster motion pictures movies silent films new york public library