Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

D.W. Griffith (scenario), Anita Loos (titles)

Stars:

Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lillian Gish	...	The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle / Eternal Mother
Mae Marsh	...	The Dear One
Robert Harron	...	The Boy
F.A. Turner	...	The Dear One's Father (as Fred Turner)
Sam De Grasse	...	Arthur Jenkins
Vera Lewis	...	Mary Jenkins
Mary Alden	...	Uplifter
Eleanor Washington	...	Uplifter
Pearl Elmore	...	Uplifter
Lucille Browne	...	Uplifter
Julia Mackley	...	Uplifter (as Mrs. Arthur Mackley)
Miriam Cooper	...	The Friendless One
Walter Long	...	The Musketeer of the Slums / Babylonian Warrior
Tom Wilson	...	The Kindly Policeman
Ralph Lewis	...	The Governor

Storyline

Intolerance and its terrible effects are examined in four historical eras. In ancient Babylon, a mountain girl is caught up in the religious rivalry that leads to the city's downfall. In Judea, the hypocritical Pharisees condemn Jesus Christ. In 1572 Paris, unaware of the impending St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, two young Huguenots prepare for marriage. Finally, in modern America, social reformers destroy the lives of a young woman and her beloved.

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Plot Keywords:

multiple storyline | babylon babylonia | paris france | jerusalem | multiple time frames | 

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Taglines:

D.W. Griffith's Colossal Spectacle

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

October 1916 (Canada)

Also Known As:

The Mother and the Law

Filming Locations:

Buena Vista, Temple Streets, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$385,907 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Triangle Film Corporation, Wark Producing

Technical Specs

Runtime:

163 min 178 min (2000 video release) 197 min (DVD) 123 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis appear as solo dancers on the Babylonian steps. Though St, Denis always denied this (insisting she had never appeared in silent films), Shawn confirmed the appearance. The couple operated their famous Denishawn dance school in Los Angeles at the time and were major dance stars of the era.

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Goofs

In the scene where Monsieur La France is shown with the puppies in his belt 'pocket', the long shot shows his arms in the air, but the next close shot shows a hand under the 'pocket' the puppies are in, and then cuts back to him with his hands in the air.

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Quotes

Auctioneer at the Marriage Market: Any man will be happy with this sweet wild rose - this gentle dove.

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Crazy Credits

Constance Talmadge is credited as 'Georgia Pearce' for her performance as Marguerite de Valois in the French Story. She is credited under her own name in the role of The Mountain Girl in the Babylonian Story.

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Alternate Versions

The Kino version contains an alternate ending to the "Fall of Babylon" segment where the wounded Mountain Girl falls into the arms of the Rhapsode, and they leave happily to start a new life.

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Connections

Featured in Hugo (2011)

User Reviews

Excellent Historical Perspective

This silent film by director D.W. Griffith is well known to serious movie buffs and historians, but not to today's general public. I doubt that a lot of people these days would have the patience to sit through a film that contained three hours of silence. Nevertheless, the film's technical innovations inspired filmmakers in the 1920's and later, particularly in Russia and Japan. It also inspired filmmakers in the U.S., including Cecil B. DeMille and King Vidor. For this reason, and for other reasons, "Intolerance" is an important film.

The film's four interwoven stories, set in four different historical eras, are tied together thematically by the subject of "intolerance", a word which could be accurately interpreted today as "oppression", "injustice", "hate", "violence", and mankind's general inhumanity.

Griffith's narrative structure, though innovative, is uneven, because he gives more screen time to two of the four stories (the "modern" and the "Babylonian"). Equal time for three stories, thus deleting the fourth, might have worked better.

To me, the Babylonian story is the most interesting one because of its more complete coverage, and because of its elaborate costumes and spectacular sets. Even though there is no script, the viewer can easily discern the plot, which suggests that some of today's films might be just as effective, or more so, if screenwriters would downsize the dialogue.

What "Intolerance" offers most of all to contemporary viewers is a sense of perspective. Someone once said that despite the enormous advances in technology, society itself has advanced not at all. That may be true. In the eighty plus years since the film was released, technical advances in film-making have been obvious and impressive. But we are still plagued with the same old human demons of oppression, injustice, hate, violence, and ... intolerance.