D.w. Griffith

Marfa (Lillian Gish), a Russian peasant girl, is in love with Jan (Frank Bennett). However, her uncle and aunt (A.D. Sears and Pearl Elmore) want her to marry an older, wealthy man. Colonel Griegoff (Walter Long) wants her, but Marfa will have nothing to do with him. When he tries to have his way with her, she knocks him out with a club and runs off. Along with her uncle and aunt, she emigrates to America. Jan, who wants to make his fortune, is on the same ship. They all settle in the Russian district of Los Angeles. Once again, Marfa's pushy relatives try to force her into an arranged marriage, but they are foiled by Jan and the police. A quick glance at this plot shows why Lillian Gish preferred to downplay many of the films she made with directors other than D.W. Griffith.

Three disaffected youths in California – couple John (Robert Carradine, The Long Riders) and Mary (Melanie Griffith, Body Double) along with their friend Scott (Desi Arnaz Jr., A Wedding) – abruptly quit their jobs and take a ferry headed to Alaska in the pursuit of a new life running a salmon fishing business. Shortly after arriving, they are robbed, spurring a ripple effect of violence and its repercussions.

This is Martin Scorsese's contribution to the British Film Institute's "Century of Cinema" series. In 1994, the British Film Institute commissioned a set of films to mark the centenary of the movies. They would trace the history of several national cinemas, and the BFI's choice for interpreting the history of American film fell to director Martin Scorsese, a longtime champion of film history and preservation.

"Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" commemorates the birth of an art that would transform the 20th century. This six-hour series is narrated by critically acclaimed actor/director Kenneth Branagh with music composition by Carl Davis, Philip Appleby and Nic Raine.

Features new remastered editions of five works from the director whose movies crossed new frontiers.

Birth Of A Movement
In 1915, Boston-based African American newspaper editor and activist William M. Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly The Birth of a Nation, unleashing a fight that still rages today about race relations, media representation, and the power and influence of Hollywood. Birth of a Movement captures the backdrop to this prescient clash between human rights, freedom of speech, and a changing media landscape