Vera Lewis Ralph Lewis Mae Marsh Robert Harron Constance Talmadge Lillian Gish Josephine Crowell Margery Wilson Frank Bennett Elmer Clifton Miriam Cooper Alfred Paget
Photography:
Billy Bitzer
Release Date:
September 5, 1916
Country:
United States
Intolerance (subtitled A Sun Play of the Ages or Love’s Struggles Throughout the Ages) is a 1916 silent film created by D.W. Griffith and a milestone in film history. The film was made in response of The Birth of a Nation, to talk about social justice.
This particular film is rather strange among film epics. First off, it serves as his follow-up to The Birth of a Nation from 1915, but after the previous film became a hit, Griffith decided to top said film, especially considering the large profit he had, enabling him to do more than before, and bring his thoughts to life. And eventually, this would lead up to him creating four different stories, that each loosely tied to the theme of “intolerance”
The four separate stories related to intolerance, would each take place during different time periods: "anicent" for Babylon; "sacred" for the life of Christ; "medival" for the massacre of the Huguenots, and "modern" (for the time) for a melodrama. This showcases how forms of hatred can naturally occur during any time period. And in a groundbreaking decision, the stories were shown in a non-linear fashion, cutting to different stories at any given point.
Each of the segments were filmed in a unique way:
The modern story was actually an expansion of a feature Griffith was working on, The Mother and the Law, which was reshot for this film. Set in a 1916 Western city, reformers are trying to halt the spread of sin—mostly drinking, gambling, and dancing in cafés. They enlist Mary T. Jenkins, the spinster sister of an “autocratic industrial overlord” who runs a factory from his massive but eerily empty office. It’s implied that Jenkins is taking part in reform out of sexual frustration. In addition to that, a worker known as “Boy” becomes a gangster after a strike and a cut in pay, the heroine's father would die of a heart attack, reformers take a young baby away to an orphanage, and the heroine's forced into prostitution, leading to a thrilling, yet unpredictable gallows climax. This segment is clearly the film’s strongest material.
The sacred/Judeian segment handled the life of Christ with reverence; although it's stripped down to the marriage feast at Cana, Christ’s warning not to cast a stone at an adulterer, and pieces of the Passion, and had some artistic license.
The French and Babylonian stories both have incredibly detailed vast and large sets that appear to be inspired from the 1914 Italian epic Cabiria. The latter is especially noteworthy, for reasons listed below.
The French/medival segment deals with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of the Huguenots in Paris in August 1572, which at the time was atypical for an American director. A complex political system is reasonably portrayed with stock figures such as the evil Queen Catherine de Medici, the feminine King Charles IX, the lovestruck aristocrat Prosper Latour, and a blameless Huguenot family that included a very beautiful girl known only as “Brown Eyes.”
The Babylon/ancient segment shows how Belshazzar lost the city to Cyrus in 538 BC. It’s due to Belshazzar’s supposed indifference to defending his city, and the treachery of jealous priests who allow Cyrus to attack through an open gate. It’s a fairly muddy example of intolerance, that’s mostly it’s own thing. Nearly everyone’s deliberately made one-note for the segment, aside from the tomboyish Mountain Girl.
Talented performances from some of the actors.
Margery Wilson portrays Brown Eyes with surprising delicacy.
Constance Talmadge had her first major role with the Mountain Girl, a fun role that she plays with verve and humor. Her skill helps her to stand out in a very dark segment.
The Babylon segment's enormous sets are still some of the most remarkable achievements in film, with a lasting impact even by today’s standards: Walls and battlements 4-5 stories high, courtyards set on 3 different levels with hundreds of costumed extras, and extremely expensive visuals.
Griffith’s style in directing is more mature and nuanced than in his previous film, with devices like extreme close-ups having more assurance. Looser camera set-ups give his scenes a more organic and life-like feel.
Bad Qualities
The film can be very confusing at certain points, even for people used to sudden scene shifts.
As previously mentioned, nearly everyone in the Babylon segment is pretty one-note aside from the Mountain Girl.
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