7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Four separate stories are interwoven: the fall of Babylon, the death of Christ, the massacre of the Huguenots, and a contemporary drama, all crosscut and building with enormous energy to a thrilling chase and finale. Through the juxtaposition of these well known sagas, Griffith joyously makes clear his markedly deterministic view of history, namely that the suffering of the innocents makes possible the salvation of the current generation, symbolized by the boy in the modern love story.
Starring: Lillian Gish, Miriam Cooper, Bessie Love, Mae Marsh, Eugene PalletteDrama | 100% |
History | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Films come and go in such huge quantities and with such an ephemeral nature that more often than not today’s sensation is tomorrow’s forgotten “masterpiece”. Our society has only become more prone to attention deficit disorder as time has marched solidly on through any number of new media distractions. And so isn’t it rather remarkable that Intolerance should have remained so iconic for so long, especially when one considers that for many, both casual viewers and experts alike, the film is one of those “must see—once” events that is perhaps better appreciated as a symbol than for any intrinsic worth? While that assessment may be questionable (at the very least), Intolerance stands tall as one of the crowning achievements of silent cinema. This gargantuan production runs for a rather staggering two-plus hours (there are several extant versions available), utilizes a then unusual cross cutting technique that simultaneously unfolds four stories from radically different time periods, and contains some of the most gigantic set pieces—and sets, for that matter—ever assembled in the history of film. David Wark Griffith had just experienced unbelievable success with The Birth of a Nation in 1915, but had also found himself mired in controversy because of that film’s patently shocking portrayal of African Americans and its lionization of the Ku Klux Klan. Restorer and archivist Kevin Brownlow, who oversaw this restoration of Intolerance and who appears on a fascinating supplement included on this two disc set, dismisses some of the widely held notions that Intolerance is therefore an “apology” for The Birth of a Nation, and he points to one salient fact to back up his assertions: of all the examples of prejudice floating through Griffith’s immense epic, there is absolutely no mention of racial bigotry, at least when directed at blacks. Griffith’s motives notwithstanding, Intolerance is an astounding film experience, one that indeed any serious student to film absolutely must see—and I would argue more than merely once—if he or she is to understand the history of the art form, for Griffith’s approach in Intolerance most certainly influenced generations of filmmakers and created a template for what would ultimately become known as an “event film” or “historical epic”.
Intolerance is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in
1.33:1. The progressive
presentation may put off some who are more sensitive to the algorithms of silent film fps protocols and how they fold into
Blu-ray authoring
requirements for 24 fps progressive presentations. While I've seen many sources reporting various silent films repeating
a
rather wide disparity of
frames (everything from every
fifth
or sixth to every eighteenth and beyond) to support a progressive presentation, my entirely unscientific research on
Intolerance
suggests that in this case it's every third or fourth frame that is being repeated—whether that will alleviate any perceived
motion issues or exacerbate them I will
leave to those with this particular acuity, as I frankly have never been overly bothered by previous silents presented
progressively, and in fact
I saw little if any difference between the progressive and interlaced presentations of The Phantom of the Opera (24 fps in 1080p, 20 fps in 1080i) with regard to
fluidity of motion.
This version runs 168 minutes (2:47:32 to be exact) and so the frame speed may have been increased since several sites
state this version
"should" run 197 minutes or thereabouts. That said, I certainly noticed no overt "sped up" syndrome in any of the
motion. The Thames Silents
Restoration which served as the source for this release was initially overseen by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill in 1989,
and according to the
press sheets accompanying the Blu-ray release, also received further digital restoration as well as a 2K scan by Cohen for
this release. The
results are fairly
miraculous, at least for
those of us who grew up on hideous looking public domain issues of the film sourced from horrible looking 16mm prints.
There are obviously
quite a few issues inherent in the source elements—scratches, missing frames, etc.—but when compared to previous
releases of
Intolerance, well—to my eyes, anyway, there is no comparison. Many of the most prominent instances of
damage have been
wiped away, without destroying grain structure. In fact, one almost has to get one's nose right to the screen to even
see some of the
scratches now, so minimal have they become. It should be stated that due to the reinstatement of the original tints,
grain appears to
be variable. It tends to be much more visible in the untinted sequences as well as the sepia and blue tinted ones than in
the reddish-purple
tinted sequences, where it all but disappears.
The image, while certainly not crystal clear or "sharp" by today's standards, is remarkably precise. Fine detail is minimal, if
only because Griffith
only uses close-ups very sparingly, and even then, often with irises employed (see screenshot 7 for a good
example of a non-irised
close-up). Density and
contrast issues are slight, but noticeable, lending a quasi-flicker sporadically throughout the presentation. Aside from the
damage restoration,
there are no signs of artificial sharpening or other digital tweaking. Having owned several versions of
Intolerance going back
to
the VHS days, I can state without qualification that this is easily the best looking version I've personally seen.
Intolerance offers Carl Davis' magnificent score (built almost entirely on a C minor motive which then expands and contracts in magical ways over the course of the next two-plus hours) in either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Davis, who I felt channeled Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony for his wonderful theme music for The World at War, here forsakes outright homages or pastiches to create a remarkable blending of tone with image. (He does liberally quote the Dies Irae at some of the more dramatic moments.) The score is really resplendent sounding in the 5.1 mix and I highly recommend that option for those with the appropriate setup. Not only are the surround channels fully engaged, the score breathes much more convincingly in the 5.1 mix, with a much fuller sounding midrange and lower range. Fidelity is superb and dynamic range is extremely wide.
The second disc of this two disc set contains these supplements:
Yes, you must see Intolerance at least once if you have any interest in the history of film. The good news is, with this often stunning restoration, chances are you're going to watch it again. While I wish this release had included some kind of commentary (there are two good essays in the insert booklet), otherwise this is a topflight release and one of the most impressive high definition presentations of a silent film I've yet seen. Highly recommended.
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