INTOLERANCE (1916)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Drama / Epic / War

Director: D.W. Griffith

Cast: Lillian Gish / Mae Marsh / Robert Harron

Plot

Four separate stories of injustice through intolerance from four separate places and time periods are played out.  Well-known historic episodes of religious and political intolerance in Babylon, Jerusalem, and France are the backdrop for fictional dramas while class and age discrimination bring about misery for a poor young couple and their child in 1910s America.

What I Liked

This one is known for two things, it's length and it's unprecedented production.  Both reputations are for good reason and the production, in terms of set pieces and extras is incredible.  There have been many epic productions since, but considering that this one was made nearly a century ago, “Intolerance” conquers all others in terms of sheer scale.  Perhaps Griffith used a lot of tricks of the camera to pull off the images of thousands of living people battling atop massive city walls while real, live elephants and life-size, fire-breathing war machines battled below.  If these were mere tricks of the camera, I certainly didn't notice, which speaks even more for director D.W. Griffith's technical brilliance.  The lush and overpowering interiors, particularly inside the French royal palace, were nearly as astounding as the exterior battle scenes.

Actually, the most moving of the storylines involves the least amount of extravagance.  The modern story is the most poignant and packs the most emotional punch.  Clearly Griffith had a message for this one, as the wealthy industrialists and socialites greedily support a system that forces the majority of the society to waver between oppressive labor or abject poverty only to then judge those who become impoverished as unfit members of society.  The drama here feels the most authentic and consequently has a stronger impact, leaving out sets and effects, than the other segments.

Griffith displays the same innovative (for the time) editing techniques he displayed in “The Birth of a Nation” and puts them to even greater use here – this time without the racist propaganda, which is a relief.

What I Didn't Like

Too long!  Even people of the time avoided this one.  It wasn't nearly as popular as “The Birth of a Nation,” mostly because the jumping between stories was unprecedented and confused those who did see it.  But at two hours and forty three minutes in length, a silent movie is a real trial for a modern viewer.  In my opinion, much of the film was unnecessary.  While all of the four stories make Griffith's point, the Jesus one gets very little development or screen time, so it seems to me it could have been cut without any detriment to the rest of the film.

As with most silent films, especially these very early ones, the acting is absurdly melodramatic.  This was done of course to tell the story and develop the characters when no sound was available.  Still, there's not a hint of subtlety on any level, from story, to effects, to acting.

Most Memorable Scene:

The Babylonian battle scenes mentioned above are some of the most impressive movie visuals I’ve ever witnessed.  That they’re more than 90 years old makes their majesty all the more impressive.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5