DW Griffith

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David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director.

He was widely regarded as the most influential filmmaker of his time, as well as several timeless cinematic methods, such as the close-up. His film The Birth of a Nation (1915) broke box-office records but it ignited significant controversy as it depicted African Americans in a negative light and glorified the Ku Klux Klan.

Intolerance (1916) was introduced as an retaliation against his critics.

Several of Griffith's later films, including Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), and Orphans of the Storm (1921), were all successful, but the high costs he paid for production and promotion often resulted in commercial failure.

By the time of his final film, The Struggle (1931), he had made approximately 500 films. United Artists was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, enabling them to control their own interests rather than relying on commercial studios.

Griffith was a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Early life

Griffith was born on January 22, 1875, on a farm in Oldham County, Kentucky, the son of Jacob Wark "Roaring Jake" Griffith, a Confederate Army colonel in the American Civil War who was elected as a Kentucky state senator and Mary Perkins (née Oglesby). Griffith was born as a Methodist and attended a one-room schoolhouse, where he was taught by his older sister Mattie. His father died when he was ten years old, and his family suffered with poverty.

When Griffith was 14 years old and moved the family to Louisville, Kentucky; there, she opened a boarding house, but it was unsuccessful. Griffith later left high school to help the family, opening a dry goods store and later in a bookstore. He began his acting career as an actor in touring companies. In the meantime, he was learning how to be a playwright, but he had no success. Only one of his plays was accepted for a performance. In 1907, he travelled to New York City to sell a script to Edison Studios producer Edwin Porter; but when Porter turned down the script, he gave Griffith an acting role in Rescued from an Eagle's Nest instead. Griffith decided to try his luck as an actor after this experience, and he appeared in several films as an extra.

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Early film career

Griffith accepted a part as a stage extra in Professional Jealousy for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1908, where he met cameraman Billy Bitzer, and his film career changed forever. Wallace McCutcheon Sr., Biograph's chief director, died in 1908, and his son Wallace McCutcheon Jr. took his place. McCutcheon Jr. did not bring the studio success; biograph co-founder Harry Marvin later gave Griffith the opportunity; and he did the short story Adventures of Dollie. That year, he directed a total of 48 shorts for the company.

The Cricket on the Hearth, Charles Dickens' film version, was one of his 1909 films. Griffith used the technique of cross-cutting to connect two stories in Dickens' novels such as Oliver Twist to illustrate Dickens' influence on his own film story. Griffith was said to have replied, "Well, does't Dickens write that way?" when chastised by a cameraman for doing this in a later film. "I'm a bit surprised."

In Old California (1910) was the first film shot in Hollywood, California. He produced and directed his first feature film Judith of Bethulia (1914), one of the first films to be produced in the United States. Biograph found that longer features were not profitable at the time. According to Lillian Gish, the corporation believed that "a long film would break [the audience's] eyes."

Griffith left Biograph due to company resistance to his goals and film overruns. He brought his crew of actors with him and joined the Mutual Film Corporation. Pancho Villa, a silent biographical-action film starring Pancho Villa as himself, was shot on location in Mexico during a civil war. He created Reliance-Majestic Studios, which later became Reliant Securic Studios and was later renamed Fine Arts Studios. With Thomas H. Ince and Keystone Studios' Mack Sennett, his new production unit joined the Triangle Film Corporation as an autonomous production unit partner. Aitken, who was recently released from the Mutual Film Corporation, and his brother Roy were the primary directors of the Triangle Film Corporation.

Reliance-Majestic Studios, Griffith directed and produced The Clansman in 1915. The film was later known as The Birth of a Nation. It's one of the first American films to have a feature length. The film was a success, but it sparked so much controversy due to its depiction of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and racial relations in the American Civil War and the reconstruction period of the United States. It was based on Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 book The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan; it portrays Southern slavery as benign, the enslavement of freedmen as a Republican plot, and the Ku Klux Klan as a band of heroes restoring the correct order. This period was popular at the time and was embraced for decades by historians of the Dunning School, but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other organizations reacted angrily, with heavy resistance from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other organizations.

The NAACP tried to get the film out of theaters. While it was profitable in a few towns, it was also shown extensively and became the most popular box-office attraction of its time. It's one of the first "blockbuster" motion pictures, and it broke all box-office records that hadn't existed before. In a Kevin Brownlow interview, Lillian Gish remarked, "They lost track of the money it earned."

Audiences in several major northern cities rioted over the film's racial content and violence. Griffith's indignation over attempts to censor or ban the film prompted him to produce Intolerance in four separate historical periods: the Fall of Babylon; the Crucifixion of Jesus; and a modern story. Intolerance was not a financial success; it didn't have enough funds to pay for the lavish road show that followed it. Griffith invested a large sum in the film's production but it was not able to be recovered in the box office. He mainly funded Intolerance himself, contributing to his financial hardship for the remainder of his life.

Griffith's production relationship was ended in 1917, and he went to Artcraft, Paramount Pictures' Paraphrasedoutput, and then to First National Pictures (191920). During the same time, he founded United Artists alongside Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks; the studio was based on actors' ability rather than being dependent on commercial studios.

He continued to produce films, but never made box-office revenues that were not as good as either The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance.

Later film career

Griffith's time with the United Artists as a business was short lived, despite the fact that it was a business. Although some of his later films did well at the box office, commercial success eluded him frequently. Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphanage of the Storm (1921), Dream Street (1921), and America (1924). Of these, the first three were very profitable at the box office. After Isn't Life Wonderful (1924) failed at the box office, Griffith was forced to leave United Artists.

He made a few films: Abraham Lincoln (1930), Lady of the Pavements (1929), and only two full-sound films: The Struggle (1931). Both were well-received, and he never made another film after The Struggle.

In 1936, director Woody Van Dyke, Griffith's apprentice on Intolerance, begged Griffith to assist him in shooting the famous earthquake sequence for San Francisco, but Griffith was not given any film credit. It was starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, and Spencer Tracy of the year that was the best-grossing film of the year.

Hal Roach, a 1939 designer, employed Griffith to produce Of Mice and Men (1939) and One Million B.C. (1940) "I need help from the production team to select the right writers, cast, et cetera, and general guidance in the supervision of these images," Griffith said to Griffith.

Although Griffith later disagreed with Roach over the film's design and departed, Roach later maintained that some of the scenes in the final film were directed by Griffith. This would make the film the final production in which Griffith was actively involved. However, cast members' accounts state that Griffith only managed the screen tests and costume tests. Griffith, who was listed as the producer in late 1939, demanded that his name be deleted from the film.

Many members of the film industry regarded Griffith as a hero for decades. In the mid 1930s, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him a special award. He made an urgent visit to the film location of David O. Selznick's epic western Duel in the Sun, where some of his veteran stars —Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore, and Harry Carey — were cast members. When Gish and Barrymore were filming their scenes, their old mentor's presence became distracting and became self-conscious; in reaction, Griffith hid behind the scene.

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