D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916)
October 25, 2011
Northwest Film ForumSeattle, WA
Griffith’s legendary, influential, but rarely-shown “film fugue.”
Legendary, widely lauded and yet rarely seen, Griffith’s monumental follow-up to Birth of a Nation redefined film storytelling and introduced the giant epic to American audiences. Intolerance weaves parallel tales in four historical epochs to show “...how hatred and intolerance, through all the ages, have battled against love and charity.”
By turns it is sentimental, brutal, intimate and so impossibly huge that it bankrupted the studio. Ninety-five years later Intolerance remains a moving and timely masterpiece.
“One of the two or three most influential movies ever made…the greatest extravaganza and the greatest folly in movie history – lyrical, passionate, and grandiose.” – Pauline Kael