Intolerance (Silent)

The greatest silent spectacle of all-time, this classic, directed by D.W. Griffith, is unparalleled as a work of cinematic art.
5.2K ratings
Price: $6.90
List Price: $8.98
You Save: $2.08 (23% Off)
Available: Usually ships in 5-7 business days
Format:  DVD-R
item number:  DRJE
Made-on-Demand

DVD-R Details

  • Rated: Not Rated
  • Run Time: 2 hours, 43 minutes
  • Video: Black & White
  • Encoding: Region 0 (Worldwide)
  • Released: February 24, 2004
  • Originally Released: 1916
  • Label: Alpha Video

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring , , , , , &
Directed by
Edited by , , &
Screenwriting by &
Composition by , &
Cinematography by &
Produced by

Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh97%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 36

Upright77%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 4,892
The verdict Intolerance renders in the controversy concerning its maker is that he is a real wizard of lens and screen. Full Review
New York Times
Apr 8, 2006
Intolerance looks both backward and forward. The strong exploit the weak, it cries, and all governments throughout history are evil. Full Review
Village Voice
Jul 30, 2013
5 stars out of 5 -- [T]his is monumental cinema and essential viewing for true film enthusiasts.
Empire
Dec 5, 2014
...There has never been a movie quite like INTOLERANCE, and few, if any, have been so influential...
Los Angeles Times
Jul 6, 1990
Intolerance reflects much credit to the wizard director, for it required no small amount of genuine art to consistently blend actors, horses, monkeys, geese, doves, acrobats and ballets into a composite presentation of a film classic. Full Review
Variety
Feb 6, 2008
Rating: 5/5 -- Intolerance is undoubtedly cinematic paradigm, but more than this, it's a window through which we can peer 100 years into the past. Full Review
The Skinny
Dec 5, 2014
David W. Griffith is an immature philosopher, a wrongheaded sociologist, a hazy theologian, a flamboyant historian, but a great movie man. Full Review
New York Tribune
Aug 8, 2019

Description by OLDIES.com:

"D.W. Griffith's Colossal Spectacle" is considered by many critics to be the greatest film of the silent era. The lavish, innovative epic weaves four separate stories that depict the menace of hate, from ancient civilization up to the present day, tied together by a poignant motif of life's continuous struggle with good vs. evil in which the Eternal Mother (Lillian Gish) is seen rocking the cradle of humanity. Griffith's superb dramatization of intolerance is realized through the fall of Babylon, the Pharisees' condemnation of Jesus Christ, the persecution of Huguenots in 16th-century Paris during Catherine de Medici's regime and a contemporary morality play wherein social reformers destroy a young couple's pursuit of happiness.

After the swarm of controversy that Griffith experienced with The Birth of a Nation (1915), he used Intolerance to defensively answer his critics. At two million dollars, it was the most expensive film of its time; the outdoor set for the Babylon sequences was the largest ever created for a Hollywood picture, featuring a crowd of 16,000 extras. The nonlinear, cross-cutting narrative was among the many novel techniques that would influence the art of filmmaking for generations to come.

Product Description:

Silent film director D.W. Griffith's biggest, most ambitious spectacle uses stories from different times and places to illustrate humanity's intolerance of religious differences throughout the ages. The most visually impressive of these chronicles is the fall of Babylon, for which Griffith built the largest sets in Hollywood and filled them with thousands of extras; there's also Christ's crucifixion and the massacre of the Heugenots in 15th century France. The most emotionally involving tale is the "modern" one, about a poor girl (Mae Marsh) whose life is repeatedly ruined by the zealotry of social reformers. The image of a mother (Lillian Gish) rocking her child in a cradle ("the uniter of the here and hereafter") links the stories. At one point, angels reach down from heaven to stop soldiers in midbattle, making it clear that Griffith intended this follow-up to THE BIRTH OF A NATION as a message of global peace and love (and an answer to his critics' accusations of racism). For a nation poised to enter World War I, this was perhaps the wrong message, and INTOLERANCE opened to mixed reviews and poor attendance. It is now rightly recognized as a unique work of cinematic art. The restored version includes color-tinted scenes.

Keywords:

This product is made-on-demand by the manufacturer using DVD-R recordable media. Almost all DVD players can play DVD-Rs (except for some older models made before 2000) - please consult your owner's manual for formats compatible with your player. These DVD-Rs may not play on all computers or DVD player/recorders. To address this, the manufacturer recommends viewing this product on a DVD player that does not have recording capability.

Movie Lovers' Ratings & Reviews:

Customer Rating:
Based on 5242 ratings.
Write an online review to share your thoughts with other customers.
Intolerant Movie Lover: from Brick, NJ -- May, 10, 2005

It's hard to look back at a movie like this and judge how it looked to the original audience. Knowing that they didn't flock to see it, I can only guess that it may have been too ambitious of a work for it's time. Mixing four stories into one movie, going back and forth from one story line to another throughout, may have been too much of a strain on the movie-goers of 1915. I know it was too much for me. I had a similar difficulty with "Pulp Fiction", which in retrospect looks like a variation on the theme. At least I now know where the idea came from.

A documentary film done in 1975 called "The Moving Picture Boys In the Great War" points to "Intolerance" as an example of the American movie industry's support for the pacifist policies of the Wilson Administration prior to April 1917. But that support quickly gave way to war enthusiasm once war was declared on Germany. It's hard for me to tell if "Intolerance" was truly cutting edge, or just a clever way of trying to play to the tastes of the times.


ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA Movie Lover: from FORT WAYNE INDIANA -- August, 10, 2004

INTOLERANCE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHEIVEMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE SILENT CINIMA. I HAVE ONLY ONE COMPLAINT OF THE ALPHA VIDEO VERSION OF THIS FILE: THE PICTURE QUAILTY IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE HIGHER PRICED VERSION, BUT ALL IN ALL IT IS A TRUE CLASSIC AND I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALPHA VIDEO FOR MAKING THESE CLASSICS AVAILABLE AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE, AND I HOPE THEY WILL BE ADDING MORE TITLES FROM THE SILENT ERA IN THE FUTURE.


The Film That Started It All Movie Lover: from Knoxville, TN US -- May, 6, 2004

What can I say about DW Griffith? He was a genius and truly a great movie maker. This silent epic weaves 4 stories together under the theme of mankind's inhumanity to man -- and Griffith isn't afraid to let you know what he thinks. Ignore the bigotry of his personal beliefs, the film is a treasury of every type of movie making basics from the long crane shots to the close up. Imagine making Cinema in 1916 when no one has ever done it! Invest the few bucks and put this in your library.


Alpha Video DVDs
Studio Vaults

Similar Products

Genres:
Labels:

Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 5,298
  • UPC: 089218428790
  • Shipping Weight: 0.26/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

To place an order or for customer service, call toll-free 1-800-336-4627 or outside the United States, call 1-610-649-7565
Open Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm, (Eastern Time)