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?

Dracula (1931) - Lugosi commands the screen as few have in chilling classic

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One of the original, striking posters for Tod Browning's Dracula

QUICK REVIEW:

Count Dracula prepares his exile from Transylvania in London, where he will face hard opposition.

Dracula is the 2nd adaptation of Bram Stoker's (The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903)) classic 1897 novel, following F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), though actually based on the successful 1924 play adaptation of the novel by Hamilton Deane, John L. Balderston (Gaslight (1944)) and Garrett Fort (Before Dawn (1933)). It is handsomely produced, by Carl Laemmle Jr. (Imitation of Life (1934)) and producer-writer-director Tod Browning (Freaks (1932)), and loyal to the novel.
The film is heightened by some great performances: Bela Lugosi (Ninotchka (1939)) in his defining title role, Dwight Frye (Sky Bandits (1940)) as Renfield and Edward Van Sloan (The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)) as Van Helsing are especially outstanding.
Dracula is dated and at times slow, but it is still a good film, even if other of the Universal horrors of the period are greater films, (particularly Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and The Wolf Man (1941)).
Different elements of Dracula were written by Browning, Louis Bromfield (For Whom the Bells Toll (1943)), Max Cohen (King Tut-Ankh-Amen's Eight Wife (1923)), Dudley Murphy (Alma de Bronce (1944)) and Louis Stevens (Border River (1954)). And Browning is said to have left the direction to fine cinematographer Karl Freund (I Love Lucy (1951-56)) for much of the shoot.

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, watch a neat video of scenes from the movie to a piece of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake here

Cost: 0.355 mil. $
Box office: Unknown (likely somewhere around 1.75 mil. $)
= Uncertainty (likely a big hit)
[Dracula premiered in February 12 (New York's Roxy Theater) and runs 85 minutes. Murnau's unauthorized adaptation had resulted in a successful copyright lawsuit, so Laemmle Jr. made sure to buy the rights to adapt the existing play and novel fair and square. Lugosi had played Dracula extensively in the Broadway hit play but was an unpopular pick at Universal, who accepted him on the basis of paying him just 500 $ a week. The shoot lasted 7 weeks. Footage from Universal's The Storm Breaker (1925) are incorporated into Dracula, which accounts for the jumpy change of image quality in the storm scenes. Browning was mostly comfortable with silent film, which is one of the reasons behind Dracula's intertitles and theatrical acting style. A Spanish-language as well as a silent version of the film were created simultaneously for release in Spanish-speaking countries and in theaters that had not yet converted to sound. No score was commissioned for Dracula, because sound and scoring was still in its infancy in film, until Philip Glass was commissioned to compose one in 1998. Audiences are said to have fainted in shock at the premiere of Dracula, which contributed to its attraction, which made it Universal's top-grossing film of the year, resulting in reportedly 0.7 mil. $ profits, which might put the film's box office earnings at around 1.75 mil. $, - which would translate into the Film Excess status of 'big hit.' The film received mixed reviews upon release and would forever mark Lugosi's life, as he was thereafter always identified with count Dracula. The remarkable and rare original posters for Dracula today auction at as much as 0.1 mil. $. Dracula is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dracula?
Which is your favorite Dracula movie and why?