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| This was a set. Seriously. |
Starring Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, F.A. Turner
Produced by Triangle Film Corporation
Intolerance is Griffith's follow-up to his hugely successful (but incredibly racist) epic Birth of a Nation. Intolerance weaves a narrative from four different stories throughout history: modern day America, ancient Babylon, 18th century France and the time of Christ. The connecting thread of the tales is the impact intolerant people can have on the good and the just, literally upending entire civilizations.
Let's start with the great. Babylon is one of the most impressive sets I have seen. Ever. The scale and scope of the city, populated by hundreds of extras, is massive and Griffith brings the camera back to show you the scale. The story is engaging with enough plot and characters to fill an entire film. An unladylike young girl is saved from a forced marriage by the prince of the city. She returns the favor by fighting for him when the armies of Cyrus attempt to breach the city walls. The battle is gorgeous and includes massive siege towers and a flame-throwing cart that had to have resulted in many injuries amongst the extras.
The marvel of these scenes is their scale. Griffith appreciated the massive canvas film could provide and built sets that were 100 feet tall. He was among the first to mount his camera on a crane and, during a feast scene, slowly brings the camera from atop the city down to the steps where revelers are dancing. During every moment in Babylon you get this tremendous sense of the scope of the place which makes the ending more unfathomable.
However, the most enthralling tale in the movie is the modern day story. A mill owner, in order to finance his sister's charity, cuts the wages of his workers who then strike. There is a street fight between the mill owner's men and the workers that ends with the death of the boy's father and the displacement of the workers to find a new life in the city.
The boy falls into a life of crime, but changes his ways when he meets and marries "the dear one." However, the boy cannot so easily leave his past behind and is framed for murder. The story ultimately leads to a thrilling chase as the dear one races a train to convince the Governor to spare her husband.
Griffith again proves his mastery of the medium during this final action sequence. He gets his camera into places no one else is even thinking about at the time. The way he tracks the car as it chases down the locomotive while cutting back to the husband's walk to the gallows creates a palpable tension.
Unfortunately, the other two stories do not fare as well. The French tale feels like its walking the same ground as the other stories with less spectacle and action. And Jesus only appears to punctuate the mood in other stories. For example, as the boy is facing the executioner, we cut to Jesus carrying his cross. Griffith is not interested in giving us a telling of the New Testament; he's interested in Jesus as an exclamation point on his other stories.
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| You see this dozens of times. Just this. |
For Griffith, Intolerance was a commercial failure. In his attempt to attack the critics of Birth of a Nation, he produced a film I feel surpassed his earlier work in every way. It's a shame the public at the time did not reward the artistic achievement the movie represents.
At over three hours, it is hard to recommend people sit through this one. I would love to watch the Babylon and modern day stories on their own as I think these would hold up very well even today.
Watched on Netflix Watch Instantly
Photos from (what is this?) and 1001 movies you must see before you die
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