Preview
  • D.W. Griffith

  • The Life and Legacy of the Hollywood Director Who Made the Birth of a Nation
  • By: Charles River Editors
  • Narrated by: Bill Hare
  • Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

D.W. Griffith

By: Charles River Editors
Narrated by: Bill Hare
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $5.42

Buy for $5.42

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

*Includes contemporary reviews of Griffith's movies

*Includes a bibliography for further reading

*Includes a table of contents

“Remember how small the world was before I came along? I brought it all to life: I moved the whole world onto a 20-foot screen.” (D.W. Griffith)

He was a pioneering film director who had 518 films to his credit. His work spanned the silent and sound eras. Most of his films were completed in a span of 15 years. But today he is known only for one of his films, one considered by historians to be a landmark in cinema as well as the most controversial ever made. He could not escape the controversy of this one film before he died in relative obscurity, his contributions to the motion picture industry forever marred.

The story of D.W. Griffith is one of triumph and tragedy, of a man who almost single-handedly created the American motion picture industry, but whose prejudices and ego have permanently colored how he is perceived. In 1958, James Agee wrote of Griffith and his time, “This was the only time in movie history that a man of great ability worked freely, in an unspoiled medium, for an unspoiled audience, on a majestic theme which involved all that was, and brought to it, besides his abilities as an inventor and artist, absolute passion, pity, courage, and honesty. He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel, the emergence coordination, and first eloquence of language, the birth of an art, and to realize that this is all the work of one man.”

It would be an overstatement to say that D.W. Griffith created Hollywood; but Hollywood would have been quite different without his complicated genius. As historian Richard Griffith put it, “the origins of older arts are lost in prehistory, their creators unknown or barely guessed at,” but for the movies, “we have an almost complete record of the ‘birth of an art.’ The creator of film art was David Wark Griffith.”

D.W. Griffith: The Life and Legacy of the Hollywood Director Who Made The Birth of a Nation profiles Griffith’s upbringing and his career, profiling the notorious movie that he continues to be remembered by. You will learn about Griffith like never before.

©2020 Charles River Editors (P)2020 Charles River Editors
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about D.W. Griffith

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.