''The Birth of a Race'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by

John W. Noble John Winthrop Noble (born Winfield Fernley Kutz; June 24, 1880 – September 10, 1946) was an American film director and screenwriter during the silent era. Career John Winthrop Noble was the professional name of Winfield Fernley Kutz (someti ...

. It was made as a response to the 1915 film '' The Birth of a Nation'', and was meant to discredit the negative stereotypes perpetuated by the film. Initially, it was intended to be a short answer film that could be appended to ''The Birth of a Nation'' in 1915 but a combination of weak financial backing and growing ambitions delayed its completion for more than two years. When finally released in December 1918, following the end of World War I, ''The Birth of a Race'' was a two-hour feature-length film, portraying the achievements of black people through history. It premiered in Chicago in December, 1918, to great ballyhoo but was a commercial and critical failure. This film is preserved at the Library of Congress.

Synopsis

Following the "Birth of the Human Race" section, the film had epic scenes of Ancient Egypt with Nubian soldiers and the rescue of infant Moses in the river. A later scene portrayed Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry his cross on the Via Dolorosa and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The film then shifted to World War I, with two white brothers in a German-American family going to war on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

, one ("George") fighting for the United States, and the other ("Oscar") fighting for Germany. George is wounded, and at the hospital defends it from a German attack, killing Oscar in the process. George is sent home to America, where he rescues his wife from a German spy.

Cast (in credits order)

* Louis Dean as The Kaiser *Harry Dumont as The Crown Prince *Carter B. Harkness as

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

Doris Doscher Doris Doscher (January 24, 1882 – March 9, 1970) was an American actress and model who appeared in the movie '' The Birth of a Race'' (1915), playing the role of "Eve." She posed as Liberty for the Standing Liberty quarter (1916–1930) by ...

as Eve *Charles Graham as

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

*Ben Hendricks, Sr. as Fritz Schmidt (credited as Ben Hendricks) * Alice Gale as Frau Schmidt *John Reinhardt as Pat O'Brien * Mary Carr as Mrs. O'Brien (credited as Mary K. Carr) * Jane Grey as Jane O'Brien *

Edward Elkas Edward Elkas (February 8, 1862 – December 17, 1933) was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in New York City. On Broadway, Elkas portrayed a headwaiter in ''A Tale o ...

as Herr Von H. * Anna Lehr *Philip Van Loan * George LeGuere (credited as George Le Guere) *Warren Chandler *Anita Cortez *Edwin Boring *Dick Lee *David Wall *Belle Seacombe

Production

Principal filming took place in Chicago and

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, Florida. Several outdoor scenes were filmed in Tampa in January, 1918, including ancient Egypt and the rescue of the infant Moses from a river and Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry his cross on the Via Dolorosa.

Reception

Critics complained that the screenplay was muddled about two white brothers fighting on opposite sides in WWI. ''Birth of a Race'' also suffered at the box office due to its release just weeks after the end of World War I; audiences were no longer interested in seeing a war film.

References

External links