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A vile hand grabbing at a young mother holding her baby is the striking image on this chilling and somewhat mystifying poster for D.W. Griffith's Intolerance
Four stories about intolerance: Centuries before Christ, Babylon falls to Persia. Around the time of Christ. Unrest in the Medici Renaissance era in France between Catholics and Protestants. - And a contemporary story, of a falsely accused man and his girlfriend's desperate struggle for his liberation.
Intolerance is co-written, produced, directed and co-edited by D.W. Griffith (Seven Civil War (1911)), who co-wrote it with Hattie Grey Baker (An Odyssey of the North (1914)), Tod Browning (Inside Job (1946)), Anita Loos (When Ladies Meet (1941)), Mary H. O'Connor (The House Built Upon Sand (1916)) and Frank E. Woods (The Bad Boy (1917)).
The four stories briefly mentioned above are apparently all linked together by the theme of intolerance!
Intolerance is one of the weirdest films of all time; it is very funny and more curious than scores of other movies put together. It is failed in that it is overlong and has a rather feeble message, but it is still extremely impressive, not least from a production point of view. Despite the expansive length, the pace in its mad stories is actually high, - there is plenty of action, - and the fighting and major set piece scenes are outrageously opulent. This aspect makes Intolerance fantastic.
= Uncertain but at least a big hit (returned 4.54 times its cost in North America alone)
[Intolerance premiered 5 September (New York) and runs 210 minutes, though with most surviving versions today running 197 minutes. Griffith reportedly self-financed the film. Mae Marsh (Man's Genesis (1912)) was paid 85$ a week for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from October 1915 - April 1916 in France and Los Angeles, California. Thousands of extras were employed for central scenes in the film, and they reportedly became so involved in the battle scenes, so that they regularly injured each other. After one battle scene 60 people reportedly needed medical assistance. The Babylon story required a third of the film's budget, which has previously been erroneously reported as 2 mil. $. Details concerning the film's gross numbers are regrettably lost, but it was released in many foreign markets in the years following its domestic release. Griffith returned with A Day with Governor Whitman (1916, short) and theatrically with Her Condoned Sin (1917). Marsh returned in The Little Liar (1916); Robert Harron (The Great Love (1918)) also in The Little Liar. Intolerance is fresh at 98 % with an 8.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An intense, gory profile picture of Jesus Christ with the crown of thorns in earthy tones makes up this poster for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ
Jesus' last 12 hours are presented with a relentless focus on his sufferings and the human crime in his torture and crucifixion, which He went through for our salvation.
The Passion of the Christ is written by Benedict Fitzgerald (Zelda (1993, TV movie)) and New-Yorker master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Mel Gibson (The Man Without a Face (1993)), whose 3rd film it is.
For the first time ever here is a feature film that gives the opportunity of following the painful and cleansing last hours of the Christ on Earth, with auspicious flashbacks to to His teachings.
In extraordinary images (cinematography by Caleb Deschanel (Killer Joe (2012))) and with a grand score (by John Debney (I Still Believe (2020))), this is an uncompromising and incredible accomplishment. Gibson establishes himself as a master behind the camera here. Jim Caviezel (Transit (2012)) is outstanding as Jesus. The film is a triumph.
[The Passion of the Christ was released 25 February (North America, New Zealand, Australia) and runs 127 minutes. The script is based on the Old and the New Testament, with inspiration from Anne Catherine Emmerich's The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1833), which recounts Emmerich's mystical visions of the Passion of Christ. Gibson did not find support for the film at the big Hollywood studios and consequently decided to self-finance it. Shooting took place from November 2002 - January 2003 in Italy, including in Rome. Caviezel suffered a shoulder separation during filming (in a shot which is reportedly in the film) and was struck by lightning at another point; assistant director Jan Michelini was allegedly struck twice by lightning during shooting. The film is considered to be highly faithful to the facts as laid out in the New Testament. With the film finished, Gibson could also not entice traditional big studios to distribute it, as they feared backlash over its alleged antisemitism. Gibson reportedly spent another 15 mil. $ to market and release it himself, screening it for many Christian groups and leaders who embraced it. The film then opened #1 to an 83.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends at #1 (one a few weeks later at Easter), and another 3 in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5), grossing 370.2 mil. $ (60.5 % of the total gross), selling an estimated 59.6 mil. tickets in the US alone. It is the highest-grossing R-rated, Christian and independent film to date, and the 5th highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 23.9 mil. $ (3.9 %) and the UK with 20.4 mil. $ (3.3 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Cinematography to Robert Richardson for The Aviator, Score to Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for Finding Neverland and Makeup to A Series of Unfortunate Events. It won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The film was banned in some countries and heavily plagued by accusations of antisemitism, which became worse when Gibson in a 2006 DUI incident was videotaped saying to the responding California officer: "Fucking Jews... the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?". The film was never shown in Israel. Gibson and Caviezel are nearing production on a sequel centered on the resurrection of Christ with shooting reportedly set to begin in Autumn 2023. Gibson returned with Complete Savages (2004, TV-series) and theatrically with Apocalypto (2006). Caviezel returned in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004). The Passion of the Christ is rotten at 49 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Epic proportions are teased on this magnificent poster for William Wyler's Ben-Hur
Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince from Judea at the time of Christ, who gets deceived by his old friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd (The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964))), and is made a slave to the Roman galleys, while his mother and daughter are thrown in the slammer. But Ben-Hur has to go through much more in his life... Ben-Hur is written by Maxwell Anderson (Death Takes a Holiday (1934)), S.N. Behrman (Two-Faced Woman (1941)), Christopher Fry (Sister Dora (1977, miniseries)), Karl Tunberg (Taras Bulba (1962)) and Gore Vidal (I Accuse! (1958)), adapting Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) by Lew Wallace (The Prince of India (1893)), and directed by German-born American master filmmaker William Wyler (Lazy Lightning (1926)), whose 40th feature it was. The novel was previously adapted as Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).
The film is an exuberant retelling of the Christian messages; to love one's enemy, to stand fast and turn the other cheek and to take the punishment and the pain, and to forgive and be forgiven; and it is an excellent and deeply moving film unlike any other. - Additionally it is probably the great Charlton Heston's (Planet of the Apes (1968)) best role and the greatest epic film ever made. Heston is phenomenal as the man, SPOILER who finally after so many trials gets his vindictiveness turned and finds faith and sees a miracle happen for his loved ones. The photography in Ben-Hur, - by the phenomenal Robert Surtees (The Last Picture Show (1971)), - is spectacular in all its full, vivid details and unparalleled grandeur. The film was the biggest in terms of sets and the most expensive film ever made at its time. It was so big that it was a make-or-break effort for its studio, MGM. Had it not triumphed, for instance, who knows if the world had met James Bond on the silver screen? Especially two major scenes in Ben-Hur are always highlighted as truly unforgettable: The violent galley scene and the legendary, extraordinary chariot race scene, an eight-minute scene that took 5 weeks to shoot in the biggest set ever built, outside of Rome at Cinecittá Studio, a chariot stadium so grand that one damns the fact that it is not left for cinephiles to peruse to this day. The scene is so influential and amazing that it stands alone in cinema history and is surrounded by myths: Its number of extras going upwards of 15,000; the number of horses that died from the effort ranging from none, (and that the horses were treated with the utmost respect to boot, as you can read in the IMDb trivia page), to as many as 100, as is the number given in The Hollywood Reporter's new Animals Were Harmed-special. Whichever is the actual truth, the scene is made and should be treasured for all the wonders that it contain. But there are many other fantastic, unforgettable scenes that are less mythologized: The beautiful opening with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; Ben-Hur's meeting with Jesus, who gives him water, when he is thirsting in chains, - a remarkable and moving scene, - and Ben-Hur's terrible discovery that his kin have become lepers.
A tragic fact, though, is that the film's producer Sam Zimbalist (Quo Vadis (1951)), perhaps understandably in light of the intense stress he must have been under every day for months, had a heart attack and died on set, two months before production ended, at age 57. His wife subsequently took home the Best Picture Oscar in his place. Ben-Hur has an epic span of nearly 4 hours, which nevertheless doesn't detract from its impact, which is that of an unmissable masterpiece, a gift to humanity, - a truly great film.
See some glimpses of the grandeur in this not-so-humble original trailer for Ben-Hur
Cost: 15.175 mil. $ Box office: 146.9 mil. $ (initial release only) = Blockbuster (returned 9.79 times its cost)
[Ben-Hur premiered 18 November (New York) and runs 212 minutes, excluding overture, intermission and entr'acte. The film was developed as a direct attempt to save MGM with a religious epic that would rival Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), also starring Heston. The writing was a contested process with several chefs that ended in a WGA lawsuit over credit. Wyler was hired with a historic fee of 350k $ plus 3 % of the net profits, a deal that allegedly netted him 1.1 mil. $ over time. Heston was paid 250k $ for 30 weeks, plus traveling expenses paid for his family as well. Shooting took place from May 1958 - January 1959 in Italy, including in Rome, California and in Mexico. The budget ballooned from 7 mil. to 15.175 mil. $ due to the lavish, larger-than-life production solutions chosen: 70 mm lenses, 6 of them, at 100k $ each, shipped to Rome. 15k sketches. 1 mil. props. 200 camels. 2,500 horses. 300 sets. 10k extras. 40 miniature ships and two 175-foot seaworthy Roman galleys. The 18 acre chariot set, the biggest ever built, using, among other elements, 36k tons of sand from the Mediterranean, - the scene reportedly cost 1 mil. $ to produce. A 125k $ set dismantlement cost. More than 1.1 mil feet of costly film used for a film of ultimately 19k feet. A 100 piece orchestra score. 3k rioting poor Italians who were not hired as extras one day. Costumes, backdrops, friezes and wigs in colossal numbers. The film was backed up with a massive 14.7 mil. $ marketing campaign and merchandising to the hilts. It was #1 in North America for a reported 6 months, grossing 74.7 mil. $ (50.9 % of the total gross). It was the year's highest-grossing and at the time the 2nd highest-grossing of all time, only beaten by Gone with the Wind (1939). It saved MGM and reportedly accrued 20.4 mil. $ in profits in its original release and another 10.1 mil. $ on its 1969 re-release. It was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning an unprecedented 11, only losing Best Adapted Screenplay to Neil Paterson for Room at the Top. It won Best Actor (Heston), Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffiths (Luther (1974)), Art Direction/Set Decoration - Color, Cinematography - Color, Costume Design - Color, Director, Special Effects, Editing, Score - Drama/Comedy (Miklós Rózsa (The Jungle Book (1942))), Picture and Sound. It also won a BAFTA, 2 David di Donatello awards, 4/5 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy, won 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #183 on the site's Top 250, sitting between 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Blade Runner (1982). The novel has been adapted several times since. The film's 1971 TV premiere became one of the top-rated of all time with 85.82 mil. viewers. Wyler returned with The Children's Hour (1961). Heston returned in Alcoa Premiere (1961, TV-series) and theatrically in El Cid (1961); Jack Hawkins (Jane Eyre (1970, TV movie)) in The League of Gentlemen (1960). Ben-Hur is certified fresh at 85 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
