History Film / Intolerance

* ThePurge: The violent [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew's_Day_massacre St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre]], which crushed Protestantism in France.

According to Lillian Gish's memoir, Griffith performed ExecutiveMeddling by reediting the film several times after its release. Originally, the four stories were approximately the same length. However, he soon realized that the Babylon sequence was the audience favorite. He lengthened that sequence while shortening the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which he thought received the least favorable reaction. (In fact, in 1919 he released a full-length version of the Babylon sequence --retitled ''The Fall of Babylon'' -- complete with new scenes shot to give the Mountain Girl's story a happy ending.) It's unlikely that the original version of ''Intolerance'' will ever be restored since most of the footage edited out of the film after its initial release has been lost.

* SceneryPorn: The ''colossal'' sets for the Fall of Babylon story.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Remember Prospero, Brown Eyes's handsome, slender suitor? That's Eugene Pallette, who within a few years gained a whole bunch of weight and turned into [[http://www.zorrolegend.com/zorro1940/frayfelipe2a.jpg this guy]]. Pallette's weight gain and gravelly voice led to a long career as a character actor playing irascible fat guys.

* GainaxEnding: After the modern story ends and all four stories are tied up, Griffith abandons all of his narratives for an ending that comes out of nowhere. A WorldWarI battle scene is shown, as is The Boy's prison, with the prisoners inside reaching out to the walls. A choir of angels descends from the heavens. All the soldiers stop fighting. The prison disappears, replaced by a field of flowers, with flowers overgrowing the abandoned artillery pieces. The final shot is of happy children playing in the fields.

* EpicTrackingShot: Griffith showed off his enormous Babylon set by mounting a camera on one of the siege towers, constructing an elevator, and getting off a shot in which the camera descends from 300 feet high to ground level. From a modern perspective, it is impressive. In 1916, when cameras were more or less nailed to the ground, it must have been shocking.

* TheCavalry: In three of the stories, although in two The Cavalry is too late. Prosper makes a mad dash back to Brown Eyes's house, but she and her family has already been put to the sword. The Mountain Girl, after having snuck 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. Only in the modern story does The Cavalry arrive on time, saving The Boy from the gallows.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. When the soldiers enter Brown Eyes' house, one has the little baby by one arm and one leg, apparently about to tear it in half.

* LawfulStupid: After a guard at the prison frantically rushes into the execution chamber with word of a pardon, the warden checks his watch, apparently decides that it's too late, and ''proceeds with the hanging''. The Boy's life isn't saved until the Dear One and the Kindly Officer burst in with the Governor in tow.

* NamelessNarrative: Aside from historical figures, none of the characters have names; they are meant to be emblematic of human types.

** Due to this film's public domain status, there are several different versions available on home video or the internet. Some apparently include a DeletedScene in which the Dear One and the Boy are reunited with their baby.

* 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 civilisation]] that allowed religious freedom.

* TheCavalry

* GainaxEnding: After the modern story ends and all four stories are tied up, Griffith abandons all of his narratives for an ending that comes out of nowhere. A WorldWarI battle scene is shown, as is The Boy's prison, with the prisoners inside reaching out to the walls. A choir of angels descends from the heavens. All the soldiers stop fighting. The prison disappears, replaced a field of flowers. The final shot is of happy children playing in the fields.

* FakeNationality: With a sprawling historical epic like this, it's kind of inevitable.

* 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.

* AnachronicOrder: As it turned out, audiences in 1916 weren't quite ready for this trope on film.

* {{Flashback}} / FlashForward: The movie starts with the 1914 storyline before introducing the others; it constantly swings between the two tropes for the remainder.

* AnthologyFilm: Not a HyperlinkStory, as the four narratives don't connect, but an anthology film, with four distinct stories centered on the theme of intolerance. What makes this film distinctive and ground-breaking was Griffith's decision to intercut the four narratives with each other, switching from one to another repeatedly, building to four tense climaxes breathlessly cutting back and forth as the film hurtles to its ending. This is still very uncommon. ''Film/CloudAtlas'' is an example of a modern film that uses a similar narrative structure.

* "The Fall of Babylo"n, 539 BC, depicting a holy war between worshipers of different gods.

* ReCut: "The Mother and the Law" and "The Fall of Babylon" were released as feature films with new scenes added. The Mountain Girl got a happier ending in which she leaves Babylon in the company of the Rhapsode.

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* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew's_Day_massacre The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre]], 1572 AD

It was made in direct response to D.W. Griffith's previous film, ''TheBirthOfANation''. Reportedly, Griffith had no idea that ''The Birth Of A Nation'' was based off a racist retelling of history until it was pointed out to him, and was horrified at what he had presented and how he was now perceived. However, the film itself is not specifically about race relations.

* The Fall of Babylon, 539 BC, depicting a holy war between worshipers of different gods.

* St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, 1572 AD

This film is in the public domain and can be viewed in its entirety on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU1UOrKTrs8 YouTube]]. Warning, almost 3 hours long, and wobbly. A proper digital remaster is long overdue.

* ActionGirl: The "Mountain Girl" in the Babylonian arc is a very early film example of this trope.

* TheAtoner: Meta-example in Griffith himself.

* MoralGuardians: The villains in each story, in one form or another.

''Intolerance'' is a 1916 film, directed by D.W. Griffith, with four stories about mankind's intolerance. Each story takes place in a separate time and place in world history. Rather than being told sequentially, the film constantly cuts from one story to another, establishing moral and psychological links between all of them -- effectively telling all four stories in parallel.

* BreakTheCutie: The Dear One. She and her father have to move away after cutbacks and strikes at the mill, and after he dies she's stuck in poverty. She marries The Boy, who repents of his criminal ways for her, but he's framed, arrested, and jailed, leaving her to raise her child alone. The MoralGuardians choose to seize the child and give it to an orphanage. The Musketeer of the Slums (a gangster/pimp) takes advantage of the couple's struggle to get the child back and tries to rape her; he's shot dead by The Friendless One but the Boy is convicted of the crime and sentenced to hang...

* FinalBattle: The climax of the Fall of Babylon storyline.
* FreudianExcuse: Mary Jenkins's falling in with the Moral Guardians in "The Mother and the Law" is motivated by her bitterness over being a spinster. By cracking down on the "decadent" pursuits of the younger generation, she can deny them the happiness she can't have.
* {{Flashback}} / FlashForward

* JustInTime
* LastMinuteReprieve

* SissyVillain - The prince in the French story.

''Intolerance'' is a film directed by D.W. Griffith with four stories about mankind's intolerance. Each story takes place in a separate time and place in world history. Rather than being told sequentially, the film constantly cuts from one story to another, establishing moral and psychological links between all of them, effectively telling all four stories in parallel.

* 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

* ActionGirl - the "Mountain Girl" in the Babylonian arc is a very early film example of this trope.
* AnachronicOrder

* BittersweetEnding - Four of them.

* FinalBattle
* {{Flashback}}
* FlashForward

* 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 civilisation]] that allowed religious freedom.
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* TheAtoner: Meta-example in Griffith himself.

* NoNameGiven: Aside from historical figures, none of the characters have names; they are meant to be emblematic of human types.

It was made in direct response to D.W. Griffith's previous film, ''TheBirthOfANation''. Reportedly, Griffith had no idea that ''The Birth Of A Nation'' was based off a racist retelling of history until it was pointed out to him, and was horrified at what he had presented and how he was now perceived. However, the film itself is not specifically about race relations.

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