Length: 163 minutes
Director: D.W. Griffith
Cast: Mary Alden, Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Constance Talmadge, Alfred Paget, Erich von Stroheim, Lucille Brown, Frank bennett, Edmund Burns, William E. Cassidy
Eric's Impressions: So the story goes that Mr. Griffith made this film in response to criticism of his racist epic, "The Birth of a Nation." It was somewhat difficult to connect the dots after watching this one, but I do like the theme of "Love's struggle throughout the ages." This four stories in one narrative works as each is equally fascinating and feel like they each could break off into their own individual films. In fact, Griffith later did recut and released two separate features. Much like everything the director did, the sets were grandiose for their time and featured thousands of extras for the Babylon vignette. Lilian Gish is once again a tour-de-force, this time without even mouthing a silent word. It's a must-see for any film lover.
Natalie's Impressions: While not nearly as long as the 7 hour vampire movie, Intolerance is not a short little film. Griffith made this movie as a response to criticisms about his previous film, Birth of a Nation. Whether he made it out of spite or because he really had come to believe in the evils of intolerance, I don't know. But he sure went to a lot of effort to make it unforgettable, hiring 3,000 extras, designing expensive costumes and sets and writing the script himself. Of the four stories, my least favorite was the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of French Protestants by French King Charles IX and my favorite stories were the Babylon story and the modern story with Mae Marsh.
COUNTDOWN: JUST 996 MOVIES TO GO
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