VCI Entertainment announced this past week a film
restoration celebrating the 100th anniversary of D.W. Griffith’s
1915 silent film classic, The Birth of a Nation, will be
released on DVD this coming Nov. 3.
As a bonus, his follow-up masterpiece in 1916, Intolerance,
is also included in this double-disc collection titled 2015 Centennial Edition: The
Birth of a Nation/Intolerance.
Regardless of the politics associated with The
Birth of a Nation — one can’t help but think how different
“Reconstruction” would have been if president Lincoln had not been assassinated
— it remains a landmark film, which technically-speaking was far ahead of its
time. Sadly, that “timeline” of Lincoln
as the overseer of the post-Civil War healing process was lost to us.
VCI Entertainment has restored The Birth of a Nation to
its original theatrical aspect ratio (1.33:1) and its proper projection speed
of 16 frames per second (FPS), which yields a running time of 199 minutes for
this presentation.
A new recording of Joseph Carl Breil’s original 1915
orchestral score for the film has also been prepared for this restoration
release and the appropriate “color tint” sequences have been restored as well.
Intolerance has also been digitally restored to its proper
aspect ratio and 16 FPS theatrical projection speed (with restored color-tinted
sequences). The running time clocks in
at 180 minutes.
Also included as a bonus feature is a newly-prepared video
presentation of the original souvenir programs for both The Birth of a Nation and
Intolerance. Additionally, renowned musicologist Eric
Beheim’s “Music Notes” for both The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance
have been reprinted and are included here as an insert.
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