Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Sight & Sound Challenge: Intolerance (1916)

Film: Intolerance (154/250) 
First Time/Rewatch: Rewatch

Oh, Intolerance. You're so VERY long. Although, honestly, I'm just glad I didn't have to watch Birth of a Nation to meet my Griffith quota for the Sight & Sound challenge. And this is actually my second viewing of this epically long beast of a movie; I got really into silent film when I was in high school and had read about this movie as being Very Important. TCM showed it on their Silent Sunday Nights program, and that was what I assumed would be my one and only viewing of this. Not so! This film isn't entirely unwatchable, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't work as one movie for me. It's essentially four films in one, and it jumps around between them...you know what? I'll let the movie explain itself: 


Yeah I guess there are common themes. Okay we have ancient Babylon, the life of Jesus Christ, the French renaissance bit, and the modern story. While the Babylon sets are incredibly impressive, and the Jesus and French scenes are competently shot, the most interesting story for me by far was the modern story. It was the most fully realized, and when the story would switch again, I'd find myself sighing. It's an ambitious effort but I'd enjoy a feature-length version of that story alone. Ah well! The mother rocking the crib between scenes was an interesting touch, though. Life goes on. 


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