Intolerance (film)

Intolerance
Theatrical poster
Directed byD. W. Griffith
Written byD. W. Griffith
Hettie Gray Baker
Tod Browning
Anita Loos
Mary H. O'Connor
Frank E. Woods
Produced byD. W. Griffith
StarringVera Lewis
Ralph Lewis
Mae Marsh
Robert Harron
Constance Talmadge
Lillian Gish
Josephine Crowell
Margery Wilson
Frank Bennett
Elmer Clifton
Miriam Cooper
Alfred Paget
CinematographyBilly Bitzer
Edited byD. W. Griffith
James Smith
Rose Smith
Music byJoseph Carl Breil
Julián Carrillo
Carl Davis (for 1989 restoration)
Distributed byTriangle Distributing Corporation
Release date
  • September 5, 1916 (1916-09-05) (U.S.)
Running time
210 minutes (original release)
197 minutes (most surviving cuts)
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Budget$385,907[1]
Box office$1.75 million (theatrical rental)

Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Subtitled as Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sun-Play of the Ages,[2][3] the three-and-a-half-hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines, each separated by several centuries: first, a contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; second, a Judean story: Christ's mission and death; third, a French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572; and fourth, a Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC. Each story had its own distinctive color tint in the original print.[3] The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle.[3]

Griffith chose to explore the theme of intolerance partly in response to his previous film The Birth of a Nation (1915) being derided by the NAACP and others for perpetuating and supporting racial stereotypes and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan.[4][5] Intolerance was not, however, an apology, as Griffith felt he had nothing to apologize for;[6] in numerous interviews, Griffith made clear that the film was a rebuttal to his critics and he felt that they were, in fact, the intolerant ones.[7] In the years following its release, Intolerance strongly influenced European film movements and is regarded as one of the most influential films of the silent era.[6] In 1958, the film was voted number 7 in the World Expo film poll. In 1989, it was one of the first films to be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schickel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Internet Archive for Intolerance (1916), D. W. Griffith. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference filmsite was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference NAACP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference TCMarticle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Rapold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference McEwan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).