Intolerance (1916), a film directed by D.W. Griffith. Made after the
success and the controversy of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith created another
masterpiece of epic proportions. At the time, it was by far, the most expensive film ever
made, costing an enormous $2,000,000, ten times more than 'Birth of a Nation'. However on
its release it was a huge failure - it was too complex and innovative for the general
public. Today it is widely acknowledged as a true masterpiece - in many ways surpassing even
'The Birth of a Nation'. Its originality - both in terms of plot device and camerawork - was
highly influential among directors around the world - most notably Eisenstein.
The film consists of four seperate stories, set at different times in history, each
displaying different aspects of intolerance. These stories are interwoven throughout the
film so they all come to an end in the last 10 minutes, but it is easier for me to examine
each seperately before considering them all as a whole. Here they are, in order of
importance and length:
The Modern Story
Plot: This story, by far the longest and most moving of the four is set in the
present day (1916). It centres on The Dear One (Mae Marsh). A young girl, she lives
in a small town with her father, who works at the local factory. The factory owner has an
unmarried sister Miss. Jenkins, who having lost her looks, turns instead to 'charity'. A
group of 'reformers' from the city, more unmarried women, ask her Miss. Jenkins for money to
help the poor. She in turn asks her brother for money, and he agrees, and cuts his employees
wages by 10%. A full scale riot ensues, which results in several people being shot and all
the workers losing their jobs. The Dear One and her father move to the city, as does The
Boy (Robert Harron) whose father has been shot, and The Friendless One (Miriam
Cooper), another young woman.
Unable to find work in the city, the Boy turns to crime, and ends up as a member of a
gang run by The Musketeer of the Slums (Walter Long). The Friendless One also ends
up as the Musketeer's girl. Meanwhile, the Dear One's father dies, much to her sorrow. The
Boy meets the Dear One, they fall in love and promptly get married. The Boy vows to go
straight, and returns his gun to the Musketeer and gets a job at a newsstand. The Musketeer,
angered that the Boy has left the gang, sets him up, and gets him sent to prison for a year.
The Dear One, while he is locked up, has a baby which she looks after by herself. The prying
'reformers' hear of this child whose father is in prison, and decide to look into it. They
arrive at the Dear One's flat when she, feeling ill, has briefly gone to the neighbour's to
ask for some alcohol as a cure. The reformers find the baby alone in the room, and catch the
girl returning with the alcohol. They are shocked by this, and threaten to take her baby
away. The Dear One, protecting her baby, drives the reformers out of her room with her
broom. They are appalled by this behaviour, and return en force to take the baby.
Unable to stop them, the Dear One is left alone, and consoles herself with the thought that
they will take better care of her child. In reality we see that it is in a large room full
of babies, and the nurse does not heed it when it cries.
Soon the Boy is released from prison, and returns to working for the Musketeer. The
Musketeer is attracted by the Dear One, and under the pretence of trying to get her baby
back, visits her alone. The Friendless One (who has the Boy's old gun) is suspicious and
follows him, and the Boy finds out and goes to rescue his wife. The Boy enters the room
where the Musketeer and the Dear One are struggling and begins wrestling with the Musketeer.
Meanwhile the Friendless One, from outside the window, shoots the Musketeer and throws the
gun into the room. It is clear to all that the Boy killed the Musketeer, and he is sentenced
to death. A kindly policeman (Tom Wilson) hears of the sentence, and takes the Dear One to
make an appeal to the governor, who happens to be in town, without success. The Friendless
One, driven by guilt, follows them, and finally admits her guilt. They quickly follow the
governor to the station, but they are too late, the train has already left. Meanwhile the
Boy's execution is prepared - the trapdoor is tested, and a priest goes to see the Boy. The
Dear One and the policeman borrow a convenient race-car that turns up at the station, and
chase the train. They overtake it, and block its path. With the Friendless One they convince
the governor to stop the execution, and they promptly rush to the prison. By now the Boy has
been led onto the scaffold, blindfolded, and his hands tied behind his back. The Dear One
and the Governor burst into the prison in the nick of time and save the Boy. Their baby is
returned, and they all live happily ever after.
Remarks: The whole story is greatly strenghtened by a superb performance from Mae
Marsh - she plays the innocent young girl to perfection, with her worried smile, and
childish habits. The riot in the factory is superbly done, with very good use of different
camera angles and smoke - Eisenstein's Strike (1925) was clearly
highly influenced by this scene. The scene when the baby is taken is also extremely
powerful, with clever intercutting between shots of the Dear One and shots of the reformers
opposite her. But the whole story is building up towards the final scene. The race, both
against the train and the clock, is one of the first of its kind, and even today still one
of the most exciting and nail-biting. The crosscutting between the high-speed car/train
chase and the Boy being slowly prepared for execution is astoundingly effective, in spite of
it having been frequently copied in later films. All in all this is the most powerful and
moving of the four stories, and our relief at the final outcome is immense, especially in
light of the other stories.
The Babylonian Story
Plot:This story, taking up a large portion of the film, and an even greater portion
of the budget, is set in ancient Babylon, and centres on The Mountain Girl
(Constance Talmadge). She, a beautiful but boisterous young girl, has come to live with
her brother in Babylon. She rejects the advances of several young men, including The
Rhapsode (Elmer Clifton), and attacks them if they touch her. This unruly behaviour
causes her brother to take her to the slave market, to be sold as a wife. However, her
un-girllike behaviour there (including eating raw onions) discourages anyone from bidding
for her. At this moment Prince Belshazzar (Alfred Paget), the ruler of Babylon
enters. The Mountain Girl appeals to him to save her from marriage, and he decrees that she
may marry whenever and whoever she wishes. She thanks him, and from then on worships him
like a god.
Meanwhile, Belshazzar has allowed the cult of the Ishtar, a god of love (whose followers
include semi-nude hand-maidens), to enter the city. This greatly angers the High Priest of
Bel, the rival god. At the same time a huge army, led by Cyrus, King of the Persians, is
advancing on the city. An epic battle ensues - the Persians attack the city with huge siege
towers, and ladders to scale the wall. The Mountain Girl, keen to fight for her Prince,
dresses up as a soldier and shoots at the Persians from the walls. In the midst of the
fighting is Belshazzar's bodyguard 'the mighty man of valor', who kills anyone who comes
near him. Some of the Persians manage to scale the walls, but they are eventually driven
back, and many of the siege towers are either toppled or burnt. After a long fight,
stretching over two days the Persians finally make a retreat.
The Babylonians hold a huge festival, celebrating their victory and honouring the god of
love. But in secret the priest of Bel sends chariots to recall cyrus's army, promising that
he will leave the gates open for him. The Rhapsode is by this time a follower of Bel, and is
one of the charioteers who goes on this mission. To impress the mountain girl he tells her
of his mission (although he does not know its true purpose). The mountain girl, suspicious,
and eager to protect Belshazzar, gets hold of a chariot and follows him. Discovering the
danger, she rushes back to the city, ahead of Cyrus's advancing army, to warn the Prince.
He, however is taking part in the festival, and by the time she warns him, Cyrus is already
inside the city, slaughtering all the people while they celebrate. For a while Belshazzar's
bodyguard manages to hold back the hordes of Persians, and the Mountain Girl defends her
prince with a bow and arrow, but finally the bodyguard is killed and the Mountain Girl shot
by an arrow, and the prince kills himself, leaving Cyrus to triumph over Babylon. In the
last shot, the dying Mountain Girl, looks up at her dead prince and dies.
Remarks: The central scene in this story is the siege. This is an astounding, epic
scene, with all the stops out - we have a 50-ft wall (actually constructed), huge siege
towers, thousands upon thousands of extras, stabbing, shooting, beheading, and a peculiar
fire machine. This scene must have been the first of its kind, and even today is very
influential (The Two Towers). It is very cleverly constructed - it slowly builds up, as
the forces prepare on either side, then as the battle is under way, it cuts away to people
praying within the city, keeping the suspense up, before returning to the battle. The battle
itself is displayed from several different angles, creating a strong sense of its scale and
confusion. The festival scene is on nearly as large a scale with thousands of extras and an
enormous set. It begins with a masterly crane shot, starting with an overview of the
celebrations, and moving all the way in to close up. It is a little jerky, but for its time
it is superb. The final race scene - the girl trying to warn the Prince, is also very
striking, with shaky camerawork to create sense of speed, and crosscutting between the girl,
Cyrus behind, and the festival in the city. Compare this scene with the chase scene in the
Modern Story.
The French Story
Plot: This story, taking up quite a short section of the film, is set in France in
1572. It depicts the infamous St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The central figure is Brown
Eyes (Margery Wilson), a young Huguenot girl, living with her family, who is
betrothed to Prosper Latour (Eugene Pallette) who is a Catholic. The king of France is
Charles IX (Frank Bennett), a catholic, whose mother Catherine de Medici (Josephine
Crowell) has a lot of power over him. She finally convinces him that the Huguenots must all
be killed. So at dawn, the soldiers go to the houses of the Huguenots and massacre them all
- men, women and children. One of the soldiers who goes to Brown Eyes's house has already
been attracted by Brown Eyes. When they break in, after killing her father and throwing her
sister out of a window, he tries to rape her. Meanwhile Prosper Latour hears of the massacre
and rushes to Brown Eyes's help. Too late - we see the soldier run her through with his
sword. Finally Catherine walks out to inspect the massacre, and smiles at the result, and
Prosper Latour, finding Brown Eyes dead, carries her body out into the street, and after
shouting at the soldiers is himself shot.
Remarks: In spite of its shortness, this story has some powerful scenes. The
massacre is extremely striking, the soldiers riding down the streets killing everyone,
bodies lining the roads. It is extremely shocking and distressing. There is a particularly
moving scene where a priest shelters a young boy, being pursued by soldiers, under his
cloak. La Reine Margot, a later french film about the same event, is highly influenced by
this scene. Brown Eyes's murder is also very shocking and unexpected - you really expect
Prosper Latour to get there in time to save her.
The Judaean Story
Plot: This story, by far the shortest of the four, simply consists of a few scenes
scattered through the film, and recounts various stories from the life of Jesus, including
turning water to wine, and the crucifixion. It also displays the Pharisees in a bad
light.
Remarks: The purpose of this story is basically to identify the intolerance of the
romans and pharisees, and the suffering of christ with events and characters in other
stories. The shot of the crucifixion is quite effective, with the crosses on the hill in the
distance, and thousands of people crowding around.
These four stories are interwoven and linked by intertitles, drawing comparisions between
them, and shots of a woman (Lillian Gish) rocking a cradle back and forth. The rocking of
the cradle is supposed to represent the swings between happiness and suffering in life. The
stories build up along side one another, each with similar themes. The climax of each comes
at dawn - the Boy is to be executed at dawn, Cyrus will march on Babylon at dawn, the
massacre begins at dawn, Jesus will be crucified at dawn. In three of them we have a race to
stop disaster - the car racing to stop the train and the execution, the Mountain Girl racing
to warn the Prince, Latour racing to save Brown Eyes. In the fourth we have Jesus carrying
his cross to the hill. We see Brown Eyes killed, and Babylon falling, before the unexpected
happy conclusion to the Modern Story. This brings a huge sense of relief, and finishes with
a hopeful rather than pessimistic outlook. Finally we see a modern battle (presumably World War I), and prisoners in a jail, with the intertitle 'When cannon and prison bars
wrought in the fires of intolerance -' then, as the soldiers are raising their bayonets to
kill one another, angels appear from heaven, and the intertitle 'and perfect love shall
bring peace evermore'. The soldiers all drop there weapons, the prison turns into a field,
and we see the near future where the cannons are overgrown, the people are all happy, and
children are playing in the fields. Finally we cut to a last shot of Lillian Gish rocking
the cradle, before the credits roll. This final scene is a bit overdone and sentimental,
rather like the last scene of 'The Birth of a Nation', but something is necessary to sum up
the whole film, portraying the contrast between love and intolerance. All in all Griffith has created a
true masterpiece, far ahead of its time both in terms of camerawork and plot device, and
creating some really powerful and moving scenes.