D. W. Griffith: Interviews

D. W. Griffith (1875-1948) is one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture. As director of The Birth of a Nation, he is also one of the most controversial. He raised the cinema to a new level of art, entertainment, and innovation; and for the first time he illustrated film's potential to become propaganda, to champion a cause and influence an audience. Collected together here are virtually all of the interviews given by D. W. Griffith from the first in 1914 to the last in 1948. Some of the interviews concentrate on specific films, including The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and, most substantially, Hearts of the World. Other interviews provide the director with an opportunity to expound on topics of personal interest, including the importance of the proper exhibition of his and others' films, and his search for truth and beauty on screen. The interviews are taken from many sources, including leading newspapers, trade papers, and fan magazines. They are often marked by humor and by a desire to please the interviewer and thus the reader. Griffith may not have been particularly enthusiastic about giving interviews, but he seems determined always to put on a good show. Anthony Slide, Studio City, California, is the author of seventy-five books, including The Griffith Actress and The Films of D. W. Griffith, coauthored with Edward Wagenknecht. In 1990, he received an honorary doctorate of letters from Bowling Green University, at which time he was hailed by Griffith's most famous actress, Lillian Gish, as "our preeminent historian of the silent film."