Unquestionably one of the most influential works in the history of cinema, Griffith’s controversial, pro-Ku Klux Klan treatise prompted race riots in New York, Chicago, and Berkeley, and pickets by Boston’s NAACP. It was also banned in much of Europe for decades. Yet even its detractors must concede that it marks a cornerstone in the evolution of the cinematic language, in its use of cross-cutting, close-ups, and last minute rescue.