Overview
A poignant exploration of love and intolerance across the ages, revealing the timeless struggles of humanity.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Graphic
- solemn
- sweeping
- urgent
- film history study
- silent cinema program
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a landmark of cinematic innovation and historical spectacle whose ambitious cross-cutting and moral vision remain highly influential, despite acknowledged excesses and structural weariness.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Babylonian, Judean, sixteenth-century Parisian, and modern American stories repeatedly intercut around the shared subject of intolerance.
The Babylonian city, St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and other mass scenes use unusually expansive sets and crowds for the silent era.
The film's climactic passages interweave its four eras through increasingly rapid cross-cutting.
Religious rivalry, Pharisaical condemnation, sectarian persecution, and modern social reformers each damage ordinary lives.
Films like Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, and why
The Birth of a Nation
formally ambitious silent historical drama using parallel storylines and cross-cutting to explore social intolerance
Napoleon
monumental silent-era historical spectacle combining multiple narrative strands with expressive editing
The Last Command
international historical epic emphasizing mass spectacle, moral conflict, and innovative silent-film technique
Movie Details
- Director
- D.W. Griffith
- Release Date
- 1916-09-05
- Runtime
- 197 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (390)
Cast
- Lillian Gish
- Mae Marsh
- Robert Harron
- F.A. Turner
- Sam De Grasse
- Vera Lewis
- Lillian Langdon
- Olga Grey
- Erich von Ritzau
- Bessie Love
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, MGM+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, MGM Plus, FlixFling, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, FlixFling
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages about?
- A monumental silent-film fugue interweaves four eras of persecution to argue that compassion is humanity’s strongest answer to intolerance.
- What is Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages as graphic.
- What did critics think of Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a landmark of cinematic innovation and historical spectacle whose ambitious cross-cutting and moral vision remain highly influential, despite acknowledged excesses and structural weariness.
- Which films are like Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages?
- Films with a similar feel include The Birth of a Nation, Napoleon, and The Last Command.
- How long is Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages?
- Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages runs 197 minutes.
- Where can I watch Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages?
- In United States, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages streams on Amazon Prime Video, MGM+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, MGM Plus, FlixFling, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
