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December 1999, Week 3

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Subject:
From:
Lang Thompson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 19 Dec 1999 23:33:26 -0500
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from LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/19991218/t000115137.html):



 I have always admired the Directors Guild for acknowledging the importance
of D.W. Griffith with their award, and I am dismayed to hear they are
withdrawing it. A sign of maturity is the ability to acknowledge greatness
while not being blind to faults--Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, but his
name remains on the Peace Prize.
      However uncomfortable it may be, "The Birth of a Nation," beyond all
other films, established the feature film and made it possible for the
members of the guild to practice their craft.
      The man whose name they dishonor was full of contradictions; yes, he
made Hollywood's most racially explosive film, but he also made films
attacking racial prejudice. In one early Griffith picture, the Klan was the
villain and a black boy the hero.
      Whose name will replace Griffith's? Another pioneer director--John
Ford, perhaps?  No, like most of his generation, he revered Griffith. How
about a foreign name, a director of impeccable reputation: Carl-Theodore
Dryer? Not a bad idea.  Unfortunately, in a 1950s poll, Dreyer selected
"The Birth of a Nation" as the greatest film ever made.
                                                             KEVIN BROWNLOW
                                                             Photoplay
Productions
                                                             London
Full Alert Film Review
http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/fafr.htm

Funhouse
http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/funhouse.htm

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