Home > Intolerance (movie)

One of the most spectacular films of all time, Intolerance was a colossal undertaking filled with monumental sets, lavish period costumes, and requiring more than 3,000 extras. The film consisted of four distinct but parallel stories that demonstrated mankind's intolerance during four different ages in world history. The timeline covered approximately 2,500 years, beginning with:

1. The "Babylonian" period ( 539 BCE) depicted the fall of Babylon as a result of a new but powerful religion filled with intolerance;
2. the "Judean" era (circa 27 CE), recounts how intolerance led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ;
3. The French Renaissance ( 1572), tells of the failure of the Edict of Toleration that led to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre;
4. Modern America ( 1914Events January 4 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador January 5 Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor February 13 Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Compos), demonstrated how various forms of intolerance helped ruin the lives of Americans.

Actual costs to produce Intolerance are unknown, but best estimates range close to $2 million (around $33 million in today's dollars), an astronomical sum in 1916 that the movie was by far the most expensive made at that point. When the movie became a flop at the box-office, the burden was so great that his famed Triangle Studios went bust.

• Directed and written by D.W. Griffith
• Assistant directors: Allan DwanAllan Dwan ( April 3, 1885 December 21, 1981) was a Canadian born pioneering motion picture director, producer and screenwriter. Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, his family moved to the United States when he was eleven years of age., Erich von StroheimErich Oswald Stroheim ( September 22, 1885 May 12, 1957) was an Austrian Jewish actor and film director, noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts. He became known as "The Man You Love to Hate" because of the many villain roles he took. He was born, Christy Cabanne , Tod BrowningCharles Albert Browning, Jr. July 12, 1880 October 5, 1962), better known as Tod Browning was an American film actor and director whose career spanned the silent and talkie eras. Best known as a horror director for Dracula (1931) with Bela Lugosi and the, Jack Conway , Victor FlemingFor the Arkansas lawyer and judge Victor A. Fleming see Vic Fleming. Victor Fleming ( February 23, 1883 January 6, 1949) (sometimes "Vic Fleming") was an American film director. Among his works are Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz''. He is interred, W.S. Van Dyke, Elmer Clifton , Monte Blue , Mike Siebert , George Siegmann
• Cinematography: G.W. Bitzer and Karl Brown
• Editing: James and Rose Smith
• Original running time: approximately 8 hours
• Average running time of currently available copies: just under 3 hours

The cast was enormous and included:

• Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.Douglas Fairbanks ( May 23, 1883 December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He became noted for his swashbuckling roles in such movies as The Mark of Zorro ( 1920), The Three Musketeers ( 1921), Robin Hood ( 1922), The
• Lillian GishLillian Gish ( October 14, 1893 February 27, 1993), was an American actress. Born Lillian Diana de Guiche in Springfield, Ohio, she was the sister of actress Dorothy Gish. The Gish sisters' mother Mary began acting in order to support the family after her
• Sam De Grasse
• Wilfred Lucas
• Mae Marsh
• Owen Moore
• Wallace Reid
• Constance Talmadge
• Natalie Talmadge

The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

A detailed account of the film’s making is told in the William M. Drew 1986 book titled D.W.Griffith's Intolerance: Its Genesis and Its Vision .