The epic apology for his racist BIRTH OF A NATION, INTOLERANCE is often used as an apology for film critics who want to recognize D.W. Griffith’s accomplishments without embracing the hard to recommend NATION. In retrospect, Griffith’s follow-up to his most notorious film is an overlong experiment that saves itself by coming together so well in the end. At its time of release, audiences were turned off by the four interwoven stories from four unconnected ages as well as the three plus hour running time. Modern audiences will have the same issues. Much like a crumbling ancient ruin, there is much to admire about INTOLERANCE as a historical document, but as a modern piece of art it has not held up over the test of time.

The subtitle for the film is “Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages,” which is actually a better description than intolerance of what connects the four tales. The modern story sees the intolerance of the reform movement, leading to the closure of a mine and the poverty of its workers. In the wake of the mine closing, an Irish boy (Robert Harron) gives up a life of crime to marry the innocent little Dear One (Mae Marsh). Framed for two crimes, the boy is sent to the gallows for a murder he did not commit and Dear One tries everything to save him. The Babylonian story sees a poor Mountain Girl (Constance Talmadge) fighting to defender the peace-loving secular Prince Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) and his Princess Beloved (Seena Owen) from the forces of Cyrus (George Siegmann), who has Babylon’s traitorous priests on his side. The next segment is set in 1572 in France where Catholic Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell) convinces her son King Charles IX of France (Frank Bennett) to carry out the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre and how these events affect the Huguenot lovers, Brown Eyes (Margery Wilson) and Prosper Latour (Eugene Pallette). The fourth and shortest tale chronicles key events in the life and crucifixion of Christ (Howard Gaye). Also intercut between all the stories is Lillian Gish as the Mother Mary rocking Jesus’ cradle.

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