Intolerance (1916) | Directed by D. W. Griffith - Full Movie

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Subtitles include Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sun-Play of the Ages.

Regarded as one of the most influential films of the silent era (though it received mixed reviews at the time), the three-and-a-half-hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines, each separated by several centuries: (1) a contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption, (2) a Judean story: Christ's mission and death, (3) a French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, and (4) a Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC. Each story had its own distinctive color tint in the original print, but not in the currently available versions. The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle.

Directed by: D. W. Griffith
Written by: D. W. Griffith, Hettie Gray Baker, Tod Browning, Anita Loos, Mary H. O'Connor, Frank E. Woods
Produced by: D. W. Griffith
Starring: Vera Lewis, Ralph Lewis, Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Constance Talmadge, Lillian Gish, Josephine Crowell, Margery Wilson
Frank Bennett, Elmer Clifton, Miriam Cooper, Alfred Paget
Cinematography: Billy Bitzer
Edited by: D. W. Griffith, James Smith, Rose Smith
Music by: Joseph Carl Breil, Julián Carrillo, Carl Davis (for 1989 restoration)
Distributed by: Triangle Distributing Corporation
Release date: September 5, 1916 (U.S.)
Running time: 210 minutes (original release), 197 minutes (most surviving cuts)
Country: United States
Language: Silent (English intertitles)
Budget: $385,907
Box office: $1 million (theatrical rental)