History Film / Intolerance

It was made in direct response to D.W. Griffith's previous film, ''Film/TheBirthOfANation''. Some stories hold that Griffith was TheAtoner after the backlash to that horrifically racist film. The truth, however, is that Griffith thought the outrage was an example of Main/PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad, and felt the "intolerance" had been directed at him. Regardless of what sparked its creation, the film itself is not specifically about race relations.

It was made in direct response to D.W. Griffith's previous film, ''Film/TheBirthOfANation''. Some reports hold that 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; others (including Website/TheOtherWiki) claim that the movie was conceived in a harsher response to those who were outraged by the aforementioned movie, and that Griffith thought the outrage was an example of Main/PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad. Regardless of what sparked its creation, the film itself is not specifically about race relations.

* "The Fall of Babylon", 539 BC, depicting a holy war between worshipers of different gods.
* The Crucifixion of Jesus, 27 AD
* The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, 1572 AD
* "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

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; the finished film gives considerably more attention to the modern-day "Mother and the Law" story and the Babylon story than the other two.

* {{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 the 2013 Cohen Blu-Ray shows what appears to be a woman spreading her knees apart and [[CountryMatters exposing herself]] for the camera. This was in 1916.

* SissyVillain: The prince in the French story.

* TheCameo: Creator/LillianGish, Griffith's regular heroine, appears here only as The Woman Rocking The Cradle in the bits linking the stories.

It was made in direct response to D.W. Griffith's previous film, ''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.

* TheAtoner: Meta-example in Griffith himself. Or so some critics have said, anyway. Others, including silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, have debunked this theory. It is worth noting that the film portrays religious intolerance and class tensions and does not deal with racial intolerance (of the sort on ugly display in ''Film/TheBirthOfANation'') at all. The sole scene with any black people in the film, showing savage "Ethiopians" in the Persian army, suggests that Griffith had not learned any kind of lesson.

''Intolerance'' is a 1916 film, directed by [[Creator/DWGriffith 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.

'''''Intolerance''''' is a 1916 film, directed by [[Creator/DWGriffith 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.

According to Lillian Gish's memoir, Griffith performed ExecutiveMeddling by reediting the film several times after its release, cutting the even more from the French and Judean stories and adding more Babylon material after Griffith realized that the Babylon segment was the most popular. "The Fall of Babylon" and "The Mother and the Law" were eventually reissued as standalone features with additional scenes shot. 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.

!Tropes include:
* ActingForTwo: Besides starring as the Mountain Girl, Constance Talmadge appears as Marguerite du Valois in the French story.

* 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 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. Only in the modern story does The Cavalry arrive on time, saving The Boy from the gallows.

* TheCameo: LillianGish, Griffith's regular heroine, appears here only as The Woman Rocking The Cradle in the bits linking the stories.

* SceneryPorn: The ''colossal'' sets for the Fall of Babylon story. Seriously, [[http://longislandarcheology.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/annex-griffith-d-w-intolerance_02.jpg look at that set!]] The Hollywood and Highland shopping center, located at that street corner in Hollywood next to the Kodak/Dolby Theatre, was partially inspired by Griffith's set.

* BoxOfficeBomb: While the film received tremendous reviews at the time, and is now regarded as one of the greatest classics in film history, the market in 1916 was extremely unkind to this film. Leading factors in its failure at the box office were its length (over five hours in its original form, later cut to three); Griffith's use of techniques which, while innovative and still widely used today, were confusing to the audiences which were seeing them for the first time; and most of all, poor timing - when the film was being shot, public sentiment in the US was against entering WorldWarOne, but by the time opening night had rolled around, antipathy for the German submarine campaign was growing and there was a wide call for entering the war on the side of the Entente Powers.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Remember Prosper, 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.

* BittersweetEnding: The 27 AD segment inevitably has this, and even then, the sweet part is downplayed. In the standalone version of the Fall of Babylon segment, the DownerEnding becomes this.

* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: The Uplifters, not content with all the damage they've already done, decide the Dear One is an unfit mother and take her baby away.

* ValuesDissonance: Portions of the film are not very accessible to modern viewers because, while this film (unlike ''BirthOfANation'') is not morally repugnant, it deals with periods in history that most people simply do not consider important anymore. The Babylonian segments, for example, might have held more appeal in an era when Westerners were still fascinated by antiquity (in Griffith's time, many schools still taught Latin and Greek), but most Americans raised in the late 20th or early 21st centuries will not know or care about the subject matter. Then there is the French subplot, which doesn't really connect with modern viewers (except perhaps in [[TheTroubles Northern Ireland]]) since the Catholic-versus-Protestant controversy of old, while still present to some extent, has [[DeadHorseTrope largely been replaced]] by the Christianity-versus-secularism dynamic today.

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. People who want to shell out cash for a high-quality picture can get the crisp new Blu-Ray edition published by the Cohen Film Collection in 2013.

''Intolerance'' is a 1916 film, directed by [[Creator/DWGriffith 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.

* WrongfullyAccused: The Boy can't catch a break. First the crime boss frames him for robbery after The Boy quits his gang. Then, after he gets out of jail for the robbery, he winds up getting convicted of a murder he didn't commit.

* 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; when his production company filed for bankruptcy in 1921 he cited ''Intolerance'' as one of the reasons.

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. "The Fall of Babylon" and "The Mother and the Law" were eventually reissued as standalone features with additional scenes shot. 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.