Intolerance (1916) - Griffith's incredible and mind-boggling epic accomplishment

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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.

 

Related post:

 

D.W. Griffith: The Birth of a Nation/The Clansman (1915) - Griffith's unlovable work of epic cinema-historical proportions

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 385k $

Box office: 1.75 mil. $ (North America alone)

= 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.]

What do you think of Intolerance?

The Birth of a Nation/The Clansman (1915) - Griffith's unlovable work of epic cinema-historical proportions

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An original poster for D. W. Griffith's cinematic classic The Birth of a Nation showing the controversial hero of the film, the Ku Klux Clansman

QUICK REVIEW:

From the the Civil War between the Northern and Southern states in the US, which we experience from both sides, culminating in a grand battle where both the Northern and the Southern 'chum' are shot dead, side by side, the story of Birth evolves as a phony history lesson that gets more and more feeble. The story of the slain South's forcibly imposed Negro regime and the growth of the heroic resistance (the Ku Klux Klan) is deeply odd today to say the least. It was also controversial at the time of the film's release, and the racist reading of Birth made its legendary director D. W. Griffith make his next film on its basis, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), eager to show that he was no racist .
To a large degree, though, I find that it is Griffith's discourse that is at fault in Birth, and that the film never becomes a directly awful propaganda for racism. However, these particulars may be said to be irrelevant, as the KKK actually used Birth as a tool in their recruitment of new members for decades, from their refoundation in the 1920s and way into the 70s. So it is not a 'clean' picture, far from politically correct and most scholars of cinema will tell you that it is cinematically important without condoning of its content, (for obvious, good reasons.)
Birth features lots of action and fun episodes, but also incredibly overlong war scenes, and it is a hard film to relate to today.
Griffith introduced numerous new devices to the art of cinema storytelling with Birth and many other of his films, and the film is also noteworthy for its phenomenal commercial success, which wasn't surpassed until Victor Fleming's Gone With the Wind (1939).
Birth of a Nation is in the public domain today and can be watched or downloaded free and legal (although in undoubtedly shabby quality) here.

Watch a trailer for the epic film here

Budget: 0.1 mil. $
Box office: 50 mil. $ (from 1915-1950)
= Enormous success

What are your thoughts on Birth of a Nation (only if you have actually sat down and watched it)?
And on other Griffith-films, if you have seen any?