Rent Intolerance (1916)
3.7 of 5 from 100 ratings
2h 47min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
After shaking the world with his hugely controversial epic 'The Birth of a Nation', pioneer filmmaker D. W. Griffith spared no expense in putting together his next project: a powerful examination of intolerance as it has persisted throughout civilisation, set across four parallel storylines that span 2500 years. There is the Babylonian story, depicting nothing less than the fall of Babylon; the Judean story, which revolves around the crucifixion of Christ; the French story, which presents the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in all its horror; and a modern American story of class struggle, crime, and the plight of life in the early 20th century set within urban slums and the prison system. Starring such luminaries as Lillian Gish, Constance Talmadge, and Miriam Cooper, who share screentime with an enormous main cast and some 3,000 extras, Griffith's film - the most expensive motion picture ever produced at the time - went on to become a critical success whose influence has only grown in the decades since. - Actors:
- Lillian Gish, Douglas Fairbanks, Spottiswoode Aitken, Mary Alden, Frank Bennett, Monte Blue, William H. Brown, Lucille Browne, Elmer Clifton, Miriam Cooper, Josephine Crowell, Dore Davidson, Sam De Grasse, Edward Dillon, Taylor N. Duncan, Pearl Elmore, Howard Gaye, Olga Grey, Ruth Handforth, Robert Harron
- Directors:
- D.W. Griffith
- Producers:
- D.W. Griffith
- Writers:
- D.W. Griffith, Anita Loos, Hettie Grey Baker, Tod Browning, Mary H. O'Connor, Walt Whitman, Frank E. Woods
- Aka:
- Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like Citizen Kane, 10 Films to Watch if You Like: King Kong, A Brief History of Films About Nuns, A History of Films about Film: Part 1, A History of Soviet Silent Cinema, A History of The Classical World In Cinema, Cinema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 1, Films to Watch If You Like..., A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Carl Theodor Dreyer, The Instant Expert's Guide to Jean Renoir, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Fritz Lang, The Last Laugh: The Film That Changed Cinema, Top 10 European Remakes, Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1948, Top 10 French-Language Remakes, Top 100 AFI Movies, Top Films, Topping the Music Hall Bill
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 08/12/2014
- Run Time:
- 167 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Silent
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Carl Davis's orchestral score in stereo and 5.1 soundtracks
- Griffith's companion feature films 'The Fall of Babylon' and 'The Mother and the Law', expanding upon these two storylines from 'Intolerance', presented in high-definition with new stereo scores by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
- A video interview with preservationist and historian Kevin Brownlow
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the main feature
- Disc 2:
- This disc includes special features
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Reviews (3) of Intolerance
Intolerance (1916) - Intolerance review by Tim Megarry
This is a great screen classic not to be missed by anyone seriously interested in cinema. Griffiths was a pioneer who established epic film making which set an agenda for the following fifty years.
However, the version of Intolerance on the DVD that I have just returned is atrocious and would have made Griffiths weep! This was a big budget film with superb photography and a special musical score to be played accompanying the silent film when released in 1916. I have seen and heard this twice over the years and can vouch for the fact that it easily matched all cinematography until the 1960s. The DVD however is an utter travesty: in many places the wrong projection speed has been used, the picture quality is mostly soot and whitewash and almost certainly this version has been taken from an old scratched exhibition print with appalling loss in quality. The titles in many parts are unreadable and the musical accompaniment is entirely unrelated to the action on screen.
What a shame, this is a masterpiece ruined by Philistines who understand nothing about film history and should never have been issued in such a manner: it will only alienate viewers and underline the prejudices of those who like to ridicule silent film.
5 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Definitely worth watching some of it: original, interesting, at times spectacular, at times tedious. - Intolerance review by tm
overlong and safer than "the birth of a nation" but far less important, less well structured, stunning at times, elegiac, beautiful, scatty, a little untidy at times, growing steadily tedious and repetitive. a heroic but not majestic attempt at grandeur.
worth watching the first hour or so; it is a landmark. after that I stayed on out of a sense of duty and not wanting to miss out in a legend; but the legend was elsewhere. although Birth of a Nation is hugely challenging, and politically incorrect work of art, it is a a work of art: no question. poisonous, divisive, evil; but that is far greater work. watch that instead and weep in rage, sorrow and embarrassment.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Giffiths Masterpiece - Intolerance review by NO
Everyone Raves about this and it may have been sesational in its day but is now rather dated.The battle scenes at
Babylon were excellent but I thought the end re the hanging contrived.Quality not good but to be expected for its age.
He led the way but has now been superseded.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.