 The movie was commissioned by Great Britain, which hoped that a  depiction of WWI would help spur the United States to join the  allies. Although D.W. Griffith (qv) had the cooperation of the  British, French and Belgian governments to film in their  territories, his cameraman, G.W. Bitzer (qv), was of German  descent and was not allowed in France. Griffith used an army  cameraman instead.