#49 - Intolerance

Sigh. I've been dreading this movie ever since I printed off the list. This, one of D.W. Griffith's most ambitious pictures, is a tale focused on the theme of intolerance through the ages. The movie is made up of four alternating stories: one in the modern age of 20th century America, one in 1500s France, one that takes the place in Christ's life and shows his death, and one in the age of Babylon. This sounds relatively interesting, but I've yet to mention the most important parts and the most obvious qualities about the movie.

(1) It is three hours and twenty minutes long and (2) it is silent. Think that over. I spent almost three-and-a-half hours watching a movie in which no one spoke. Not typical for a 19-year-old Georgia boy.

Now most everyone has sat through a three-hour movie at one point or another. But there aren't a whole lot of us who have been able to sit through a silent movie, no matter how long it is. But I bet I could count on my left hand how many people have sat through a three-hour silent movie, and I'm proud (?) to say I'm one of them.

Now, to the movie itself. Okay, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. But good grief, did it have to last so long? Honestly, everything could be established, all of the action could happen, and all of the themes could be conveyed in a movie that lasted less than an hour. Instead, we are faced with two-and-a-half hours of what I consider to be filler.

The overarching theme of intolerance is conveyed well, just as it was in D.W. Griffith's 1915 three-hour silent epic about the KKK, "The Birth of a Nation" made the year before "Intolerance." Griffith does know how to draw drama out of a situation, even if know one gets a chance to speak a word.

Does the movie deserve to be on the list? Sure. Its scenery is epic, its ambition is on a grand scale, and the facial expressions of the actors are all great stuff for 1916, 94 years ago. 94!

While the movie was interesting and kept my attention for the most part, it was just too darn long, which took a lot away from the great experience of sitting in my room alone, watching a movie in which no one says a word.