Pour l'indépendance

Appropriately subtitled "Love and Sacrifice", director D.W. Griffith's fictionalized account of revolutionary "America" should have been more successful, given the obvious costly effort in evidence; it is weighted down by lack of imagination, and a significantly unsuitable performance from the leading actress. Still, it offers many worthwhile scenes; and, some legendary scenes are brought beautifully to life. Griffith gentlemanly reveals prejudices early, explaining, "The story of the sacrifice made for freedom in the American Revolution is that of a civil war between two groups of English people; one group, the Americans, being merely Englishmen who settled on the American Continent."

Moreover, Griffith asserts, "The government which Canada and Australia now enjoy was absolutely denied to America through the stubborn and false ideals of the autocratic powers guiding the hand of King George the Third." During the running time, Griffith uses Royalist Walter Butler to represent the evil on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Were it not for Mr. Butler, the Revolution might have been settled amicability! Not as despicable a thesis as presented Griffith's similarly plotted Civil War epic, but neither is "America" as excitingly presented as "The Birth of a Nation".

And, try as they might, Neil Hamilton (as Nathan Holden) and Carol Dempster (as Nancy Montague) are not Robert Harron and Lillian Gish in "Hearts of the World".

Griffith's epics are much more convincing with when characterizations and relationships are well presented. Mr. Hamilton, as the poor young New Englander, has no rapport with Ms. Dempster. And, as the Virginia belle, Dempster is wrongly directed. Compare Dempster/Hamilton with Gish/Harron in "Hearts of the World". Or, even better, with Gish/Harron in "A Romance of Happy Valley". The later film shows how well Ms. Gish and Mr. Harron played the "bedroom window" scene which Griffith re-visits in "America". Hamilton, a promising actor, had a great career highlight, later, as "Commissioner Gordon" of "Batman" in the 1960s; but, ribald Lionel Barrymore (as Butler) steals the acting honors. Griffith used his stars better in the forthcoming "Isn't Life Wonderful?"

****** America (2/21/24) D.W. Griffith ~ Neil Hamilton, Carol Dempster, Lionel Barrymore

America (1924) tells the story of the American Revolutionary War through the perspectives of Nathan Holden (Neil Hamilton), a commoner who fights for the American cause, and the aristocratic Montague family, with whose daughter Nancy (Carol Dempster) Nathan has fallen in love. Their love is complicated not only by the class divide, but by conflicting political loyalties. Things are further complicated when Captain Butler (Lionel Barrymore) declares his love for Nancy as well. Supposedly, he is fighting for the British, but he has ambitions of his own that force the two sides to unite against a common enemy. Directed by DW Griffith.

SCRIPT: It seems obvious that Griffith is aiming to recapture the epic scale of BIRTH OF A NATION, and thankfully this film doesn't have as much racism as BOAN. The movie shows tightness in the battle scenes, and the reasons for the conflict are deftly sketched out. However, the movie takes a while to get going. The script has several issues: the clichéd story of "love at first sight" between Nathan and Nancy, told in groan-inducing purple prose; very shallow characterizations (especially Griffith's patronizing attitude toward daddy's girl Nancy, calling her a "little Tory" with "slight knowledge of politics"), and an overemphasis on Butler's villainy at the expense of the main conflict. I find Griffith's repeated tendency to place his heroine in the lustful hands of a brute annoying and distasteful, as well as his use of the word "savages" to describe Native Americans. The story told here just isn't very interesting, and some of the love scene title cards are really awful. SCORE: 4/10

ACTING: Hamilton and Dempster don't show much spark as a couple overall. Dempster in particular doesn't engage with her role as an aristocrat in the beginning; she just doesn't have the hauteur that you would expect and her character shows very little personality or depth. She does improve somewhat later on, providing some touching moments, but her performance suffers from Griffith's insistence on fashioning her after Lillian Gish. Neil Hamilton is too understated in the beginning but shows some feeling later, particularly in one scene where he has to make a very difficult choice. The romance between the two is never really convincing. Lionel Barrymore, though, steals the show in his scenes, playing the evil Captain Butler with sadistic glee and gusto. The other players are OK but not outstanding. SCORE: 5.5/10

CINEMATOGRAPHY/PRODUCTION: Many scenes in the first hour or so are presented in a stagy, tableaux-like fashion that may have been acceptable in 1914 but definitely not in 1924. The camera-work becomes more interesting once we get to Paul Revere's ride, but then goes rather static again. There were some overlong close-ups on Carol Dempster at times that appear to have been done after the main filming was complete, and she is directed to emote in a way that doesn't match the title cards or the context of the scene. SCORE: 5.5/10

SUMMARY: America stands as DW Griffith's last attempt at an epic-scale production. Although he tries to replicate the scale of BIRTH OF A NATION, the movie overall feels dull and uninspired. The script suffers from a corny, unconvincing central romance and shallow characterizations. The acting also suffers from a lack of charisma and inspiration, and the cinematography is unusually reserved and stiff, with just a few moments of visual interest. PLEASE NOTE: Griffith's antiquated insistence on using white actors for the black and Native American parts will not set well with many viewers, myself included, but thankfully this was the last time he would do so. SCORE: 5/10

Slow but beautifully-mounted story of the American revolution. Griffith's story-telling seems a lot less heavy-handed than in his earlier historical epics and his tableaux work is fully integrated into the action. Lionel Barrymore is an utter swine, Neil Hamilton is poor but dashing and Carol Dempster is.... well, Carol Dempster is most of what is wrong with Griffith in this period, but she doesn't show up often enough to slow the pace and drama.

Note that the trivia for this movie says it came in originally at slightly more than 2 hours when first released, but that no cut exists that runs longer than 90 minutes. However, the dvd release has been presented at a slower fps rate that increases the tension and brings it back to a bit over two hours.

Far better in terms of story-telling than sound versions, such as THE PATRIOT. While not quite in the league of Griffith's best, such as WAY DOWN EAST and BROKEN BLOSSOMS, an excellent way to spend a couple of hours.

America (1924)

*** (out of 4)

This film is basically a remake of The Birth of a Nation but this time the story is set during the American Revolutionary War. We have George Washington (Arthur Dewey) trying to make our country free while Capt. Walter Butler (Lionel Barrymore) tries to get the Indians on his side to attack what one hopes to become the new America. In the mean time, two young lovers (Neil Hamilton, Carol Dempster) are split apart due to them fighting on opposite sides of the war. This film was a notorious flop when originally released and everything Griffith made after this was basically done so that he could clean up debts gathered by this film. Time has certainly been kinder to the film than movie crowds in 1924 because this is a pretty strong take on the war that features a nice story, great battle scenes and some fine performances. Barrymore steals the show with his crazed performance but he never goes over the top but even without words you can see the passion on his face as he fights for what he believes is right. Hamilton and Dempster are both fine in their roles, although I'm sure stronger actors would have been better. The majority of the film deals with the actual story of the war and not the battle scenes. Griffith handles all the quiet moments very well but there's no question that the battle scenes are where the energy is at. Hundreds of extras were used and again, like previous Griffith epics, the battle scenes look incredibly realistic as if Griffith were there filming while the real battles were taking place. The story of the families being split apart probably would have worked better had it not been so familiar as to the story in The Birth of a Nation but either way this was Griffith's last epic and while it's not the masterpiece of The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, it's still impressive film-making.

Neil Hamilton played the lead in Griffith's big-budgeted and sprawling February 1924 "America." In a rare Hollywood film about the Revolutionary War, "America," marking the near 150th anniversary of the conflict's beginning, offers a love story in the middle of the pivotal moment in the United States' founding. Nathan (Hamilton), who sympathizes with the rebels and is a minuteman, is in love with Nancy (Dempster), whose father is a Tory. The Romeo and Juliet romance bounces around as Griffith captures the opening rounds of the Revolutionary War with the battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, followed by scenes of Valley Forge. The director's trademark heart-pounding conclusion that he perfected in his 1915 'The Birth of a Nation,' is found in "America." Cross-cutting between a fort filled with settlers under siege from the British and its allied Indians with the horse-bound Morgan raider colonists rescuers normally would assure this Griffith movie was going to be a box office smash.

The director, after spending a considerable amount of his personal money into the project, saw just the opposite in the amount of empty seats in the theaters. The critics were split down the middle on its praise, but even Griffith loyalist Lillian Gish, in her autobiography, wrote, "Apart from a few scenes, the film was a heartbreaking disappointment." The receipts were so thin that Griffith, following the dismal reception in "Life Is Wonderful," was forced to sell his Mamaroneck, New York, movie studio as well leave United Artists. He found himself now as an independent director for hire, something that never crossed his mind before 1924.