IntoleranceRating:
Release Date: 18 November, 2003 Retail Price: $6.98 OUR Price: $6.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Intolerance Reviews
Maybe the most representative D.W. Griffith film
D.W. Griffith is commonly known as the man who revolutionized movies and movie storytelling. His seminal 1915 epic THE BIRTH OF A NATION was also, in many ways, the birth of movies as an art form and as a business. Always the technical innovator, Griffith was the first to experiment with film technique in order to enhance his storytelling, and his innovations---medium close-ups, crosscutting, etc.---are indispensable to moviemakers today.
But there is more to Griffith than technical innovation, and there are parts of his 1916 silent epic INTOLERANCE that---more so than in THE BIRTH OF A NATION---remind me of some of his old Biograph shorts, in its intimate scale, pacifism, and concern for the human condition. As the main director at the old Biograph film company, Griffith was known for making shorts that placed marginalized working-class folks at the dramatic center of things, and treating his relatively lower-class characters with sensitivity and respect. That sensibility resurfaces vividly in one of the four stories in INTOLERANCE, involving the Dear One (Mae Marsh), whose husband is wrongly jailed, and whose baby is taken away by misguided Uplifters who consider her a bad mother. There's no derision in Griffith's attitude toward the working-class characters in this modern story: if anything, Griffith spouts his venom at the ruthless employers and reformers, who either care nothing for their workers or never take working class problems seriously, in spite of their agreeable-on-the-surface rhetoric.
But that is just one story out of four that Griffith tries to tell in one 3-hour cinematic package in INTOLERANCE. The other stories show Griffith trying to overreach, to go beyond what he achieved in THE BIRTH OF A NATION and tell even grander stories, and explore the grander theme of "love's struggle through the ages."
That's why I think INTOLERANCE is, even more than THE BIRTH OF A NATION, the most representative film of D.W. Griffith: it has all the technical and narrative experimentation that he attempts in NATION, but it is also balanced with compelling personal drama of the type that he made as a Biograph director (and which was perhaps stunted by the racist elements in NATION).
It's not perfect---not at all. Griffith's attempt at telling four stories at once doesn't necessarily work; through his editing, he tries to cleverly connect the stories together smoothly, but in the end it still comes off as four stories told at once. And I can't really take INTOLERANCE seriously as a deep exploration of intolerance through the centuries, since none of the stories ever really rise above melodrama, and Griffith gets awfully preachy with his message at times. And yet there are still things to marvel at here: the awesome siege of Babylon, the last-minute rescues at the film's climax, Griffith's flexible use of the squarish frame. It may be trite as a message movie, but it's certainly exhilarating to watch as one of the great follies of American movies.
INTOLERANCE was meant to be a response to the cries of racism that haunted the popular success of THE BIRTH OF A NATION. Unfortunately, it was so demanding for audiences in 1916 that it became a great failure, and Griffith never really recovered from it. However, history tells a different story: INTOLERANCE lives on to this day as a movie as seminal in its importance in movie history as NATION, and it is still as awe-inspiring as ever in its sheer ambition. This is required viewing for any self-respecting film buff.
ALMOST TOO BIG TO DESCRIBE & TOO HEAVY TO FULLY APPRECIATE
IN A NUTSHELL: THE THEME IS SIMPLE -- THE STORIES ARE ANYTHING BUT SIMPLE!
"Intolerance" is presented via a cross-cutting of the four tales of injustice: the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 16th century France, the crucifixion of Christ, a modern workers' strike, and a story of ancient Babylon.
WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT: THE EFFECT OF INTOLERANCE
To viewers of modern films, such as myself, following and comprehending "Intolerance" is a formidable task. We are so used to dialogue, modern symbolism, and tight editing that this film, difficult to appreciate and understand in 1916, may be even more difficult to decipher today.
Nevertheless, there is no shortage of powerful, gut-wrenching images that are properly developed, played-out, and delivered to four dramatic climaxes.
As a result, it is difficult not to think about the meaning of "Intolerance" which probably transcends G.W. Griffith's intentions. Unfortunately, as cinema entertainment goes, this was NOT a winner at the box-office, and the critics view of the film was very mixed.
BOTTOM LINE: Didactic --- but emotionally Super-Potent!
Very heavy fare for viewing, as it is long, melo-dramatic, a little difficult to follow, silent except for captions and score, and totally didactic. Nevertheless, it is emotionally super-potent. I get the point most strongly, and find myself examining my own behavior and evaluating it on the basis of my own intolerance since seeing this film.
ABOUT THE DVD: "The Kino Video DVD"
----- *-"Master from 35mm archive elements"
----- *-Stereo Score by Joseph Turrin
----- *-Introduction by Orson Welles
This film is 90 years old. That right ---- 90! Considering its age it plays incredibly well. This particular edition is 197 minutes long and the captions are on long enough for anyone to read them [for a change]!
ALSO SUGGESTED: ACCLAIMED EARLY SILENT FILMS OF G.W. GRIFFITH
Hearts of the World (1918, D.W. Griffith)
Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith)
The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith)
Way Down East (1920, D.W. Griffith)
The White Rose (1923, D.W. Griffith)
One Exciting Night (1922, D.W. Griffith)
The Greatest Thing in Life (1918, D.W. Griffith)
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