Birth of a Nation (1915) UPDATED

[Brent_Reid]

It's worth mentioning in the BD and DVD listing notes that Kino's 2-DVD set is repackaged with their BD.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Updated, but still in the process of updating the other DVDs.

[Brent_Reid]

Which other DVDs are you referring to? If it's those for BoaN, this may be of use.

The Eureka and Force DVDs have NTSC-PAL transfers.

[Brent_Reid]

Hi James, the Caps link is missing from the DVD comparison.

My OP note still needs adding to the Kino DVD. Did you ever make the necessary updates you mentioned?

This film has more different versions than any other silent I know of; surely it's worth adding a brief explanation or breakdown at the bottom of its comparison pages?

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I updated the Blu-ray and DVD pages, yes.
I havent looked into things deep enough to know about the different versions. Would you believe I’ve never actually seen the movie in full? I might look into it during the break but have so many other things to do. It’ll take a while unless someone else does it instead.

[Brent_Reid]

As you'd expect, there are dozens of unrestored versions, but all the restored releases and their differences are detailed in the link above.

If you plan to watch the film, the BFI is unquestionably the way to go, with the Eureka a decent but distant second. Though the main film may not be one you'll want to watch repeatedly, there's added value in both with all the other civil war films included.

in the meantime, a very happy Christmas to you and all this site's contributors and users!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I really don’t have the time to read over it now so I’ll let someone else make the call on what to update. And yes, Merry Christmas to you too Brent

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Here too. Asking other staff members to finish this since I just don't have the time to do the research.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Again, calling on other staff members, Brent, or anyone else for help. If anyone can simply list out the different versions of the film, I'll gladly update the listing for "Birth of a Nation", I'll update it. I just don't want to waste my vacation time researching it all myself.

[Brent_Reid]

Hi James, because of its extremely convoluted release history, it's impossible to produce a simple list of BoaN's different versions. I've already created (ahem) the best listing you're going to find and linked it in my second post. I described every existing restored or high quality version and their home video releases. I'd suggest you link to the whole article.

I see my other suggestions and corrections haven't been implemented. I'll relist them, along with a couple of others:

Kino's DVD listing needs a footnote stating it's also been repackaged with their BD.
The Eureka and Force DVDs have NTSC-PAL transfers. They're actually straight copies of the Image and Kino DVDs' NTSC master, but sans tinting.
The Image DVD's footnote is a little redundant so remove unless you want to add a similar one for every release (Kino has the same transfer). Alternatively, just simplify it to: "Features inauthentic colour tinting," "Has tinting based on guesswork," or something similar.
The Caps-a-golic link is missing from the DVD comparison.
The Madacy DVD is a very poor quality PD copy (there are dozens of them!) and best avoided. I'd say delete it altogether and add a footnote:

• "Birth of a Nation is in the public domain and poor quality unrestored versions have been issued by many bargain bin companies, such as Alpha, Delta, Digiview, Madacy, Triad Productions, etc. They all squeeze the three-hour film onto a single-layer DVD and are best avoided."

Can you find the TT BD's feature runtime anywhere?

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Anyone? This has been open for a while and I have too many other things to do and have no time to delve into Brent's link and researching all this.

[Brent_Reid]

Hi James, this isn't as complicated as you may think, and I'm happy to walk you through it one step at a time if you wish.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Just need to know what to write exactly on both BD and DVD pages.

[Brent_Reid]

No worries. These points are straightforward:

Kino's DVD listing needs a footnote stating it's also been repackaged with their BD.
The Caps link is missing from the DVD comparison.
The TT BD's feature runtime is missing; can you find it anywhere?

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Kino's DVD listing needs a footnote stating it's also been repackaged with their BD.

That's fixed.

The Caps link is missing from the DVD comparison.

Will do once everything else is updated.

The TT BD's feature runtime is missing; can you find it anywhere?

Nope.

[Brent_Reid]

The Oz DVD label is incorrect: it's actually from Force Video and was just distributed by Beyond Home Entertainment.

Note that the Eureka and Force DVDs have NTSC-PAL transfers.

To discern the different versions listed, add to/replace their individual notes:

• Image and Kino DVDs: 1992 David Shepard restoration, with speculative tinting.
  Eureka (orig) and Beyond DVDs: 1992 David Shepard restoration, but in black and white with no tinting.
  Eureka/MoC DVD: 2011 restoration from archival 35mm elements, with speculative tinting.
  Kino and Eureka BDs: 2011 restoration from archival 35mm elements, with speculative tinting.
  BFI and Twilight Time BDs: Definitive 2015 Photoplay restoration, compiled from 4K scans of the original negative and archival 35mm elements. Features original tinting scheme.

On the Kino BD's disc 2 (DVD), correct the year of David Shepard's restoration to 1992.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

The Oz DVD label is incorrect: it's actually from Force Video and was just distributed by Beyond Home Entertainment.

Note that the Eureka and Force DVDs have NTSC-PAL transfers.

To discern the different versions listed, add to/replace their individual notes:

• Image and Kino DVDs: 1992 David Shepard restoration, with speculative tinting.
  Eureka (orig) and Beyond DVDs: 1992 David Shepard restoration, but in black and white with no tinting.
  Eureka/MoC DVD: 2011 restoration from archival 35mm elements, with speculative tinting.
  Kino and Eureka BDs: 2011 restoration from archival 35mm elements, with speculative tinting.
  BFI and Twilight Time BDs: Definitive 2015 Photoplay restoration, compiled from 4K scans of the original negative and archival 35mm elements. Features original tinting scheme.

On the Kino BD's disc 2 (DVD), correct the year of David Shepard's restoration to 1992.

Done.

[Brent_Reid]

Quick work! Some tidying up and improving uniformity:

Remove this note from the Image DVD: "Features restrained sepia and color toning of the picture. It is questionable as to how well this matches the original scheme.
Slight cropping to top and left of image."
Leave it blank or put "Has colour tinting.", to match the "No colour tinting." note on some of the others.

Kino and Eureka/MoC: add note, "Has colour tinting." or leave blank, as with above.

Kino BD:
Disc one: change "* The Film, newly mastered in HD from archival 35mm elements (193:25)" to "* The Film (2011 restoration)"
Disc two: change "* The Film, restored by David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates in 1993 (186:57)" to "* The Film (1992 David Shepard restoration)"

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

Fixed

[Brent_Reid]

This note "Slight cropping to top and left of image." is still largely superfluous, as all restorations except for Photoplay's have the same slightly cropped framing.

The Madacy DVD is a very poor quality PD copy (there are dozens of them!) and best avoided. Delete it altogether and replace the current DVD footnotes...

OVERALL: UK
The UK Eureka/Masters of Cinema set features the 2011 restoration and copious extras.
The US Kino set has similar extras to the Eureka/MoC, but only has the 1992 restoration for the main feature.

[Optional: For more information, see Brenton Film's detailed article on Photoplay's restoration and all restored home video versions: The Birth of a Nation: Controversial Classic Gets a Definitive New Restoration.]

Birth of a Nation is in the public domain and poor quality untinted, unrestored versions have been issued by many bargain bin companies, such as Alpha, Delta, Digiview, Madacy, Triad Productions, etc. They all squeeze the three-hour film onto a single-layer DVD and are best avoided.

New BD footnotes:

OVERALL: US and UK
The US Twilight Time and UK BFI feature Photoplay's definitive 2015 restoration and copious extras, all in HD.
The US Kino and UK Eureka feature the decent but inferior 2011 restoration with copious extras, but all in SD. Note the Kino also includes the 1992 restoration on DVD.

[Optional: For more information, see Brenton Film's detailed article on Photoplay's restoration and all restored home video versions: The Birth of a Nation: Controversial Classic Gets a Definitive New Restoration.]

The 2011 restoration has also been issued in Spain by Divisa.

All done!