SOURCE: "A Note on an Idol," in Sight and Sound, Vol. 15, No. 59, Autumn, 1946, pp. 81-2.

In the following essay, Noble outlines the racist trappings of The Birth of a Nation.

Griffith has one of the great poetic minds of the cinema. He ranks with Chaplin, Von Stroheim and René Clair among the immortals of the screen, and it is in no way meant to decry his genius that I draw attention to a facet of his work which has not been fully examined. I refer to his anti-Negro bias, as demonstrated in that otherwise superb film The Birth of a Nation and in such of his later films as One Exciting Night. He is indeed a pioneer, but a pioneer of prejudice!

The Birth of a Nation is one of the cornerstones of the cinema as we know it now. It is a magnificent and impressive film, containing...