Movie #1: Intolerance. Or really, WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?

I recently decided that as an actress in Hollywood, I would love to up my knowledge of film history. I was a theatre major in college and had an awesome theatre history teacher (shout out, Totie-B!) so I have that realm of the acting world down. However, now that I'm pursuing acting for the big screen, I feel I need an education on where this all came from and how it has evolved in the last 100 years. So, I checked out A Short History of Film, 2nd edition from the library and decided to accompany my reading with watching the most recent AFI top 100 movies of all time list in chronological order.

I thought about giving myself a time limit. Then I decided that's too binding. I thought about not blogging because I know how terrible I am at blogging, but I decided to try it again (for the fourth time). I took one look at the length of the earliest film on the AFI list, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, and yelled "THREE HOURS?!" (three hours and 17 minutes, to be exact), and almost gave up right then and there. But I didn't. So, here we go!

Without further ado, here are my thoughts on Intolerance.

Title: Intolerance, Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Director: D.W. Griffith
Starring actors: Lillian Gish, Miriam Cooper, Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Constance Talmadge, etc.
Number on the AFI List: 49
Year: 1916

I am thoroughly surprised that I was able to pay attention during a three hour silent film that contained four different stories: modern day (1916), Babylon, the crucifixion of Christ, and the French St. Bartholomew's day. All are tied together by a woman rocking a cradle (a representation of time). The movie explores how "revolutionary ideas have always been persecuted" (Dixon, Foster, pg 25). The director, D.W. Griffith, created Intolerance as a response to audience's criticism of his previous feature, The Birth of a Nation (criticism was warranted; it was a completely racist film). Griffith's mammoth production cost over 1.9 million dollars for him to create back in 1916. He definitely spared no expense, especially with the exterior sets. I mean, just LOOK at this set for the courtyard of Babylon:

There are no miniatures here.
Beyond the sets, the costumes were spectacular and the attention to detail to interior rooms was impeccable. He also filmed each storyline with a different hue to the film (modern was black and white, Babylon was yellow, Jesus was red, and French was green), which aids the audience to what storyline they are watching. However, the movie was a complete bust. No one enjoyed the multiple plot lines and people were still angry about The Birth of a Nation,  so Griffith ended up bankrupt.

Favorite plot line: Modern. Mae Marsh was fantastic as The Dear One. Vulnerable, sympathetic, tragic. A new acting inspiration.
Least favorite plot: French. I lost track of this storyline. Didn't care. I hated green by the end of the movie.

Overall, I was floored by Griffith's attention to detail and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the acting of these silent film stars.

Will I watch it again: Probably not.

For your viewing pleasure: