The Costume Drama Blogathon – Intolerance: Love’s Struggles Throughout the Ages (1916)

This review is part of the The Costume Drama Blogathon being run by Debbie over at Moon in Gemini

Tnx for letting me take part!

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“When women cease to attract men, they often turn to reform as a second option.” – Intertitle

Number of Times Seen – 1 (7 Sep 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A young women is separated from her lover by the rampant crime in her city that is caused by intolerance that has occurred throughout history as the three other interwoven segments taking place in the past show to be true.

My Take on it – When trying to decide on a film for this blogathon, I came across this movie that actually fits into the category of the blogathon four times since it is comprised of four distinct segements that take place at varying times in history and are connected by a common theme of tragedy caused by intolerance that people have for one another.

This is a very intriguing film that was well ahead of its time.

D.W. Griffith manages to create an epic film and showed the amazing potential that film making was capable of even at this early stage of the medium.

The film utilizes an enormous production which was quite unheard of at the time and they expertly use hundreds of characters in each of the four segments.

This is astounding to see since it was such an enormous endeavor for its time and it succeeds very well in what it attempts to do.

The fours stories are inter-cut with one another and they successfully are able to tell four distinct stories with a common theme really well in an almost simultaneous way.

Each of the fours segments tale place in different parts of history and each of them has a very different look and feel to it that makes them stand out from one another.

The main story is a “modern” one which takes place not long after the turn of the 20th Century.

The second story take place in Babylonian times.

The third takes place during the French Renaissance period and the final one is a Biblical story that occurs during the time of Christ in Judea.

This is an amazing production that really showed the vast potential of film even though it was made over a Century ago.

Bottom Line – Very intriguing film that is very much ahead of its time. Griffith manages to make an epic production of this film and shows the great potential of film making at such an early stage. The production is enormous for its time and each of the segments has scenes that have so many characters that it’s constantly amazing that such an endeavor was possible at the time. The stories are inter-cut with one another quite well and they manage to tell four distinct stories that all have a common thread that is quite apparent throughout. The four segments each take place in different periods of history and each is very different in its look and feel due to this. There is the modern story that takes place at the turn of the 20th century, a Babylonian story, A story during the French Renaissance and finally a Biblical Story that takes place around the time of Christ. Very impressive work for a film made over a century ago. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – During filming of the battle sequences, many of the extras got so into their characters that they caused real injury to each other. At the end of one shooting day, a total of 60 injuries were treated at the production’s hospital tent. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

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