INTOLERANCE (Masters of Cinema) (BLU-RAY)

Review of the Eureka Blu Ray 2 disc set. I assume this is Region B locked but have no easy way of proving it. The picture quality is very good, plenty of detail here and only light damage is visible in a couple of places, seems like it has a sympathetic restoration. The two main story lines in ‘Intolerance’ are presented again on Disc 2 as films in their own right and with some additional scenes and some changed scenes. It’s interesting to compare these B&W scenes with the equivalent tinted ones on the main feature, to me they look a little clearer but that is no criticism of the tinting on the main feature.The main feature soundtrack is a Carl Davis orchestral one and it’s predictably grand and unsurprisingly excellent.Intolerance really is an epic with it’s 4 interwoven story lines taking up almost 3 hours. The two main story lines are set in ancient Babylon and the contemporary USA, the supplemental ones in 16th century France and Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.The Babylonian sets are huge and breath taking, no CGI here, these were actually constructed and the thousands of extras adorning the sets provide further scale. Much work went in to getting the Babylonian details right and it shows, this is a labour of love and it shows. Almost every scene is packed with detail and people, I was often reaching for the pause button just to take it all in. The battle scenes are epic are quite gory in places, a spear is slowly inserted into a torso, looks most convincing, less convincing but quite startling are a couple of decapitations. On top of this we have a few scenes of various young ladies in completely see through tops and for no good narrative reason. Just shows Hollywood has been selling gratuitous sex and violence for its entire existence!Constance Talmadge is a delight as the stroppy tomboy turned warrior woman and she lights up every scene she is in.Mae Marsh (‘the dear one’) is also fantastic in the contemporary story, she is a decent kid who has rotten luck at every turn some of which is supplied by self-appointed reformers. These holier than thou types are very much in Griffith’s sites (later confirmed by Kevin Brownlow’s excellent interview) and boy does he let them have it. One title card quotes ‘When women cease to attract men they often turn to Reform as a second choice’ Yikes! These days we have all manner of overpaid health ‘gurus’, nannies and food scientists lecturing us about the evils of alcohol, red meat and the like, delivering their dire and often contradictory warnings. Would that a modern director set his sights on these crushing bores.Mae Marsh has great support from Miriam Cooper as the hugely conflicted ‘friendless one’ and Robert Harron convinces as ‘the boy’. The tension in this story line builds and builds to a great climax. Excellent stuff.Religious intolerance is of course the main theme throughout the film. Depressingly little has changed in the 103 years since and I suspect never will whilst so much of the human race is still defined by such beliefs.This is a 5* film all the way, but it’s not perfect. The French story line doesn’t get enough time for us to build a rapport with the characters and thus the fate of them loses dramatic impact compared to what is going on in the main stories. Jerusalem gets even less time and for me the only effective scene was the ‘Let he is without sin cast the first stone one’. The crucifixion is marred by some dodgy special effects.The two films on Disc 2 provide some extra narrative for both stories. For ‘the dear one’ those extra scenes should have been left in the main feature they answered the burning questions I had when watching it. For the Babylon story – the extra scenes change the pace and feeling of the narrative and there is a radically different ending. For me the Babylon story in the main feature is superior.An absolute essential for silent films fans, film students and aficionados alike. All this entertainment for a very reasonable price. Go get it!

A masterly restoration and presentation of a key work of early cinema, and fantastic value given that the disc also includes the two separate features that Griffith constructed out of the original epic (including material edited out of the original, and some material shot later) as far as I am aware previously unavailable on DVD. And an excellent booklet. The cover seems crude and garish to my eyes, but don't let that put you off - there is nothing crude about the contents of the two discs. The feature comes to life with a clarity I have not seen in the film before -not even in the cinema screenings of the Brownlow restoration, on which this is based, 20 years ago.

What a classic epic this is. Presented wonderfully with maxed out video bitrate and uncompressed LPCM audio. The 3 hour film on first blu-ray and extra features on the second disc.

Intolerance feels remarkably fresh and exciting for a 100 years old film! And it still looks amazing, no wonder it was the most expensive movie of its time. Recommended to all cinema lovers.As for the video quality - no quibbles here. I know movies from the 40s and 50s that dont look this crisp.I haven't seen all the extra content, but there is plenty, plus a very nice 40-page booklet which I found very interesting and informative.All in all, a great buy.

Wow just wow! 😎

I love old and new movies, CG laden movies like Avengers to 100 year old silent movies. That is why I love this movie, in its day it was an event. It is a masterpiece in cinema. Now it has been remastered on Blu-Ray it is a marvel, the DVD was dark and grainy, but now the picture quality is superb on this Blu-Ray.

What this film set out to accomplish is nothing short of a masterpiece. Bravo.

A must see movie, saw it a long time ago and it was barely watchable. This new disk is great.