Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

D.W. Griffith (scenario)
Anita Loos (titles)

Release Date:

5 September 1916 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The Cruel Hand of Intolerance

Plot:

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Plot Keywords:

Public Domain | Hypocrisy | Intolerance | Morality | Multiple Time Frames

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Mae Marsh	...	The Dear One (Modern Story)
Robert Harron	...	The Boy (Modern Story)
F.A. Turner	...	The Girl's Father (Modern Story) (as Fred Turner)
Sam De Grasse	...	Arthur Jenkins (Modern Story)
Vera Lewis	...	Mary T. Jenkins (Modern Story)
Mary Alden	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Eleanor Washington	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Pearl Elmore	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Lucille Browne	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Mrs. Arthur Mackley	...	Self-Styled Uplifter (Modern Story)
Miriam Cooper	...	The Friendless One (Modern Story)
Walter Long	...	The Musketeer of the Slums (Modern Story) / Uncredited Babylonian Warrior (Babylonian Story)
Tom Wilson	...	The Kindly Policeman (Modern Story)
Ralph Lewis	...	Governor (Modern Story)
Lloyd Ingraham	...	Judge of the Court (Modern Story)

Also Known As:

Intolerance (USA) (short title)
Intolerance: A Sun-Play of the Ages (USA) (copyright title)
The Mother and the Law (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

163 min | Spain:123 min (TV version) | Argentina:175 min | Spain:197 min (DVD version) | UK:178 min (2000 video release) | USA:197 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

South Korea:12 (2003) | Argentina:Atp | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Triangle Film Corporation

Trivia:

The title and some lines from the poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" by Walt Whitman are used as intertitles in the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: While the vestal virgins of uplift are at the party given by Ms. Jenkins, and are indoors the whole time, the feathers on their hats flutter and their dresses are blown as if by a breeze. This sort of thing occurs in numerous indoor scenes throughout the film, since interiors were shot on outdoor sets.

Quotes:

The Boy: Nothing doing on the good night stuff, I always go inside to see my girls.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Yippie (1968)

The most ambitious film ever made

Incredible that in 1916 Griffith embarked on a film with four different stories intercut to indeed present "love's struggle through the ages". This really is the ultimate epic film, no film before or since can really match it for ambition or scope. Lillian Gish believed it was ruined when Griffith cut it down from his original version, destroying the narrative flow but the extensive intercutting gathering speed and intensity towards the end was hugely influential particularly on the Soviets and directors like Hitchcock who liked to turn the screw with mounting suspense. Its not a film though to show a newcomer to the silents, it requires some experience of silent drama. People in 1916 were either amazed by the spectacle or baffled by it, one reviewer said they feared Belshazzar would be knocked down by an automobile at any second.