"The Birth of a Nation", #44/Removed, 1915
Via the trivia available on imdb.com, I found out that after director D.W. Griffith made this film (which has some racial overtones-I'll get to that), he was criticized as being racist, and he was very hurt by this. So, he then made "Intolerance", which is also on the top movie list.
Now, this movie really is rather racist. It shows the American Civil War from the point of the South. And it shows the start of the KKK as a way to protect the southerns from the horrible new black-supremists that were terrorizing the place. In true 1910's style, this is a three hour long silent film, and D.W. Griffith didn't write a script or screen play at all. He came up with all the shots in his head, and simply explained to all the actors prior to each shot what was going on. I'm sure it really helped that it was a silent film, since he could then shout to the actors in the middle of scenes what he wanted them to do.
One of the things I liked the most about this was the soundtrack/score. Each character had their own theme music that would come on when a scene focused on them. So, it was probably the same eight songs played over and over again, with maybe a couple extra songs thrown in.
The first part of the movie shows two families who are long time friends - the Northern Stonemans and the South Camerons. They show them visiting each other prior to the war, and how much the two families care for each other. [[Major spoiler alert... but really, you probably won't be watching this movie ever, so who cares if I spoil it]] Then there is a really interesting scene where two men of the families (close friends) meet up on the battle field (fighting each other). One man is wounded on the ground, and the other man is approaching and about to stab him with the bayonet attached to his musket, and then he realizes who he is about to stab, and then embraces him as a brother and attempts to help him, but then they are both shot down, and die in each others' arms.
It was a very interesting scene that contrasted how much the North hated the South in general terms, but there was still a brotherhood love between individuals who were friends.
Good film, but a long, racist movie. I won't be watching it again, nor would I suggest it to anyone.
"Intolerance" New/#49, 1916
It's always intriguing to me when a movie not on the original list is added to the anniversary list, especially considering the movie was around when the original list was made. So what is it about the movie that made it qualified to be added to the list.
Well anyways...
I was not excited for this movie. It had three strikes against it before I even started the movie. 1) It's a silent film, 2) it's a silent drama, and 3) It's three and a half hours long. So that was a great set up. However, somehow, I enjoyed it. The movie is a 'drama of comparisions' and it's shown in two acts. Probably so that the people in the movie theatre could have a bathroom break. I think I watched it in about four chunks. The movie is a bunch of overlapping stories-I think there were four. There was the "Modern Story" (keep in mind modern still meant early 1900's) in America, one from ancient Babylon around 500BC featuring King Belshazzar, one around the 1500's in France, and the crucifixion of Jesus circa 30AD. The main story was the modern one, we also followed that one the longest, I think it spanned three or four years, while the Babylonian story spanned three or four days. Luckily, this movie (generally) clued the audience into which story it was. I really loved that none of the characters really had names. I mean, there was Belshazzar, who was the King of Babylon. But, the girl in the modern story was The Dear One and she met (and then married) The Boy. And the girl in the french story was Brown Eyes. The girl in Babylon who lived out in the mountain was, The Mountain Girl. I think using those names made it a lot easier to keep track of what story was about to be shown. When the audience sees "The Mountain Girl", they know it's the Babylonian story. Had they said, "Mary & John", the audience may have been confused if it was The Dear One and The Boy from the modern American story, or Brown Eyes and The Prince. I mean, the audience may have figured it out, but I just watch The Sing-Off (an a capella singing competition) and even though I'd watched five episodes, I have no idea what the first name of the main singer of my favorite group is, so really, it's also very probable that the audience would be confused throughout.
As you probably guessed, the movie is about intolerance. It showed every type of discrimination... religion, sex, social class, age, etc. And, by jumping between the modern story and the three older stories, it artistically showed that nothing has changed, intolerance still ruins the lives of people.
So, as I said above, I actually really enjoyed this movie. Even though you still have to deal with the epic background music and the extreme overacting, I think this movie is worth watching. I think any silent drama film that is 3 1/2 hours, that I still consider to be a good movie, is probably a really good movie. So, if you have a chance to watch it (probably in at least two, maybe four sittings), you should!
