Comments on: Film Chronology – Intolerance (1916) http://commentarytrack.com/2007/04/11/film-chronology-intolerance-1916/ movie reviews, news and discussion Thu, 17 May 2012 20:53:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Helen http://commentarytrack.com/2007/04/11/film-chronology-intolerance-1916/#comment-190 Helen Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:33:19 +0000 http://commentarytrack.com/2007/04/11/film-chronology-intolerance-1916/#comment-190 After the harsh criticisms I've written about Griffith before this, some of which I'm about to repeat, I should probably start by saying that I do enjoy some of his films. Intolerance is one that I enjoy, despite the problems Rishi accurately describes. I don't know what the Eternal Mother linking image means either, and that's symptomatic of Griffith's muddled thinking. The Huegenots story should have been left on the cutting room floor. I abhor Griffith's propensity to lecture through his title cards. The characterization of the women reformers in the modern story is unpleasantly chauvinistic. The modern story also suffers from Griffith's tendency to romanticize poverty. Nevertheless, while I watched Intolerance I didn't really care about any of that, because so much of the film is spectacular and exciting and dramatic. The Babylonian sets and costuming are amazing. The extended finale brilliantly showcases the parallel editing technique that Griffith pioneered the use of and is still used in modern action films. Talmadge and Marsh give excellent performances and their characters are strong and engaging. Intolerance is a movie with verve. It gallops over the rough spots. On a historical note, the spectacular elements of the Babylonian sequence were new in American film, but not in world cinema. Italy made a big splash internationally around 1912-1914 with similar historical epics. Griffith had seen and been influenced by the Italian films in planning The Birth, and Intolerance was a deliberate (and successful) effort to beat them at their own game. After the harsh criticisms I’ve written about Griffith before this, some of which I’m about to repeat, I should probably start by saying that I do enjoy some of his films. Intolerance is one that I enjoy, despite the problems Rishi accurately describes. I don’t know what the Eternal Mother linking image means either, and that’s symptomatic of Griffith’s muddled thinking. The Huegenots story should have been left on the cutting room floor. I abhor Griffith’s propensity to lecture through his title cards. The characterization of the women reformers in the modern story is unpleasantly chauvinistic. The modern story also suffers from Griffith’s tendency to romanticize poverty.

Nevertheless, while I watched Intolerance I didn’t really care about any of that, because so much of the film is spectacular and exciting and dramatic. The Babylonian sets and costuming are amazing. The extended finale brilliantly showcases the parallel editing technique that Griffith pioneered the use of and is still used in modern action films. Talmadge and Marsh give excellent performances and their characters are strong and engaging. Intolerance is a movie with verve. It gallops over the rough spots.

On a historical note, the spectacular elements of the Babylonian sequence were new in American film, but not in world cinema. Italy made a big splash internationally around 1912-1914 with similar historical epics. Griffith had seen and been influenced by the Italian films in planning The Birth, and Intolerance was a deliberate (and successful) effort to beat them at their own game.

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