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The Fall of a Nation

The Fall of a Nation
The Fall of a Nation 2.jpg
Directed by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Screenplay by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Based on The Fall of a Nation
by Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Starring Lorraine Huling
Percy Standing
Music by Victor Herbert
Cinematography John W. Boyle
Production
company
Dixon Studios
Distributed by V-L-S-E
Release date
  • June 6, 1916 (1916-06-06)
Running time
7-8 reels
Country United States
Language Silent
English intertitles

The Fall of a Nation is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and is a sequel to the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, directed by D. W. Griffith. Dixon, Jr. attempted to cash in on the success of the controversial first film.The Fall of a Nation is considered to be the first ever film sequel. Based upon The Fall of a Nation, written by the director, the film is now considered lost.

The Fall of a Nation is an attack on the pacifism of William Jennings Bryan and Henry Ford and a plea for American preparedness for war.

America is unprepared for an attack by the "European Confederated Army", a European army headed by Germany. The army invades America and executes children and war veterans. However, America is saved by a pro-war Congressman who raises an army to defeat the invaders with the support of a suffragette. According to the Internet Movie Database, the film is split into three sections: "A nation falls", "The heel of the conqueror" and "The uprising two years later".

Some battle scenes were filmed in the same location as The Birth of a Nation, at a cost of $31,000.

The film had a musical score produced by Victor Herbert. The Encyclopædia Britannica states that "this is probably the first original symphonic score composed for a feature film". An earlier music score was composed by Camille Saint-Saëns for the short (15-minute) film The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908).


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Wikipedia

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