History Film / Intolerance

It was made in direct response to Griffith's previous film, ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}''. Some stories hold that Griffith was TheAtoner after the backlash to that horrifically racist film. The truth, however, is that Griffith thought the outrage against his MagnumOpus was an example of political correctness, and felt the "intolerance" had been directed at ''him''. Regardless of what sparked its creation, this film itself is not specifically about race relations.

* SympatheticPOV: In the Fall of Babylon story, the Babylonians are the good guys. Culturally, thanks to its depiction in the Bible, ancient Babylon tends to be remembered as a WretchedHive that was justly destroyed for its transgressions; the film depicts it as a [[FairForItsDay progressive civilization]] that allowed religious freedom.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Dear One and The Boy got their baby back, right? Right?

Some of the architecture from the film's Hall of Babylon scene has been recreated at the Hollywood & Highland Center in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.

* EpicMovie: The most expensive up to that time, costing $2 million in 1916. By way of comparison, the battleship USS ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nevada_(BB-36) Nevada]]'' (BB-36), commissioned the same year ''Intolerance'' was filmed, cost $5.9 million. Griffith never really recovered from the financial reversal caused by ''Intolerance'' bombing at the box office; when his production company filed for bankruptcy in 1921 he cited ''Intolerance'' as one of the reasons.

The original concept was to give equal time to all four stories, but that would have made for an even longer film that the massive product Griffith eventually released. The St. Bartholomew's Day story was cut shorter and the Jesus story was cut even more than that, being reduced to a few scattered scenes; the finished film gives considerably more attention to the modern-day "Mother and the Law" story and the Babylon story than the other two.

* "The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre", 1572 AD, starring Margery Wilson as Brown Eyes and Eugene Palette as Prosper.
* "The Mother and the Law", 1914 AD, depicting crime, moral puritanism, and conflicts between capitalists and striking workers in America, causing hardship and suffering to those caught in the crossfire. Starring Mae Marsh as the Dear One, Robert Harron as the Boy, and Miriam Cooper as the Friendless One.

* FlatCharacter: Surprisingly enough, a good chunk of the supporting cast don't really have that much going for them.

It was made in direct response to Griffith's previous film, ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}''. Some stories hold that Griffith was TheAtoner after the backlash to that horrifically racist film. The truth, however, is that Griffith thought the outrage against his MagnumOpus had been an example of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad, and felt the "intolerance" had been directed at ''him''. Regardless of what sparked its creation, this film itself is not specifically about race relations.

* BrokenAesop: Griffith created the film specifically to denounce critics of ''[[Film/TheBirthOfANation1915 The Birth of a Nation]]'' as PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad, comparing the opposition of racism to ''the crucifixion of Christ'' among other things. However, the ambiguity at which he relayed his message made it easy to reinterpret it as being in support of the very viewpoint Griffith was against (largely because racism and bigotry in general are based heavily in intolerance), so much so that urban legend tends to misconstrue the film as Griffith apologizing for his earlier white nationalist propaganda piece.

* TheCavalry: In the modern story The Cavalry arrives on time, saving The Boy from the gallows-but see TheCavalryArrivesLate.
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: Two of the stories. Prosper makes a mad dash back to Brown Eyes's house, but she and her family have already been put to the sword. The Mountain Girl, after having sneaked out behind the traitorous priests and discovering their plot, races back to Babylon on a chariot, but by the time she reaches Prince Belshazzar the Persians have already entered the city via the open gate.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Catherine de Medici. ''Good lord'', Catherine de Medici. She claimed that the Huguenots were ruthless savages and were against religion, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist but she herself proved to be just as nasty as them as she also ignored the religion and sent mercenaries to slaughter their entire race, even though some of them were living perfectly normal lives.]] Not to mention she pleasantly witness the murders without any regrets.

* IncorruptiblePurePureness: The Dear One and Brown Eyes are typical virginal Griffith heroines, saving themselves until marriage, sweet and innocent. Part of what makes the Mountain Girl so interesting is how thoroughly she avoids this trope.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Reinforcing the NotSoDifferent theme--a sign saying "The Same Today As Yesterday" is clearly visible as the soldiers fire on the striking workers.

* NotSoDifferent: A running theme, as Griffith portrays intolerance in different eras. When the Mountain Girl is put on display at the marriage market a title card suggests that it's not so different from the modern way.

* IrisOut

* KarmaHoudini: None of the bad guys--Jenkins, the Uplifters, the treacherous Babylonian priest, King Cyrus, King Charles IX, Catherine de Medici, the Pharisees--get any kind of comeuppance. Catherine is seen striding through the corpse-strewn streets with a look of satisfaction on her face.

* {{Streetwalker}}: One is visible in the slum that the mill workers have relocated to. The Dear One, who is both very innocent and kind of stupid, gets the idea to strut down the sidewalk like the streetwalker does so people will like her.

** [[TearJerker Not in the standalone version.]]

* {{Fanservice}} / FanserviceExtra: The Love Temple in Babylon contains the prince's harem girls, who lounge around in see-through gowns. A nude woman is shown splashing about in a pool. And a woman can be seen spreading her knees apart and [[CountryMatters exposing herself]] for the camera. This was in 1916.