Acteurs·trices:
Lindsay Anderson (narrateur), D.W. Griffith (i.a.), Lillian Gish (i.a.), Frank Capra (i.a.), Andrew L. Stone, Zita Johann (plus)Résumés(1)
In this three-part documentary, celebrated film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill tell the proud, sad story of D.W. Griffith (1875-1948): the man who first brought artistry and ambition to the movies, and then, having dragged a reluctant American film industry to international prominence, found it had no more use for him. Judiciously chosen film clips illustrate exactly how, within seven years of going to work for the Biograph Studios in 1908, Griffith painstakingly refined camera and acting techniques; how trial and error led him to create a grammar that was the cinema’s own; and how, in 1915, he presented the fully-fledged film masterwork The Birth of a Nation. Griffith strove to outdo himself in skill, spectacle and soaring ambition, and Brownlow and Gill illuminate the successes that highlighted his career: Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, Way Down East and Orphans of the Storm. A wealth of background detail is provided by vivid accounts of Griffith at work (from Lillian Gish, Blanche Sweet, Karl Brown, Stanley Cortez, among others), and by a comprehensive account of the great controversy sparked by The Birth of a Nation. With its extensive historic details and dazzling extracts from beautifully tinted prints, Brownlow and Gill’s three-part documentary is the perfect reminder of just how great Griffith’s achievements were. (texte officiel du distributeur)
(plus)Acteurs·trices
Lindsay Anderson (narrateur)
Inde
Meilleurs films :
O Lucky Man! (1973)
Les Chariots de feu (1981)
Meli-Melo à Venise (1992)
D.W. Griffith (i.a.)
États-Unis
Meilleurs films :
San Francisco (1936)
Naissance d'une nation (1915)
Les Coeurs du monde (1918)
Lillian Gish (i.a.)
États-Unis
Meilleurs films :
Le Vent (1928)
Intolérance (1916)
La Nuit du chasseur (1955)
Frank Capra (i.a.)
Italie
Andrew L. Stone
États-Unis
Zita Johann
Autriche-Hongrie
Meilleurs films :
La Momie (1932)
Tiger Shark (1932)
Alexandra of Denmark (i.a.)
Danemark
Joseph M. Schenck (i.a.)
Empire russe
Charlie Chaplin (i.a.)
Grande-Bretagne
Meilleurs films :
The Chaplin Revue (1959)
Le Kid (1921)
Le Dictateur (1940)
Dorothy Gish (i.a.)
États-Unis
Meilleurs films :
Les Deux Orphelines (1921)
Le Cardinal (1963)
Les Coeurs du monde (1918)
Neil Hamilton (i.a.)
États-Unis
Meilleurs films :
Tarzan et sa compagne (1934)
Tarzan, l'homme singe (1932)
Pour l'indépendance (1924)
Walter Huston (i.a.)
Canada
Meilleurs films :
Le Trésor de la Sierra Madre (1948)
Le Faucon maltais (1941)
Passion fatale (1949)
Louis B. Mayer (i.a.)
Empire russe
Adolphe Menjou (i.a.)
États-Unis
Meilleurs films :
Les Sentiers de la gloire (1957)
O toi ma charmante (1942)
Zelig (1983) - i.a.
Mack Sennett (i.a.)
Canada
Erich von Stroheim (i.a.)
Autriche-Hongrie
Meilleurs films :
Boulevard du crépuscule (1950)
Les Rapaces (1924)
Intolérance (1916)