"8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD, 18,000 PEOPLE, 3,000 HORSES, 3 YEARS TO PRODUCE!": VERY LARGE 1921 MOVIE POSTER FOR D.W. GRIFFITH'S CLASSIC BIRTH OF A NATION

(GRIFFITH, D.W.). Birth of a Nation Poster. No place, [1921]. Broadside, measuring 29 by 41 inches, closely framed. $6000.

Very large original movie poster produced for the 1921 re-release of D.W. Griffith's pioneering film, The Birth of a Nation.

Griffith's dramatization of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, based on Thomas Dixon's 1905 novel The Clansmen, was immediately controversial for its racist depiction of African Americans and its heroic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan; it is now considered instrumental in the revival of the KKK in the 1920s. The poster, composed entirely of text in red and black within a black border, reads: "The Supreme Picture / Of All Time! / Birth / Of A / Nation / D.W. Griffith's / 8th Wonder of the World / 18,000 People / 3,000 Horses / 3 Years to Produce!" First released in 1915, the 1921 re-release elicited the comment "The supreme picture of all time" from the New York Mail, used here as the opening line. This rare poster may be an example of a job printing for a local movie house.

Fine condition.