Series: D.W. Griffith

In the 1950’s, Simon and Schuster published a coffee table compendium called The Movies covering the history of cinema in America.

Given D.W. Griffith’s centrality in the emergence of cinematic visual language, and the prominence of westerns in early Hollywood, it’s a little bit surprising that none of his signature films are westerns.

The French Revolution turns out to be a very good match for DW Griffith.

This is the fourth DW Griffith film I’ve watched in my tour through film history, and the fourth starring Lillian Gish.

DW Griffith, the premier American epic filmmaker of the 1910s, had his biggest financial stumble in the hugely ambitious, 3.5-hour Intolerance.

The problem with choosing “intolerance” as a theme for your time-sprawling opus is that it is so shapeless and blunt as to lose all meaning.

I don’t even know where to begin. Imagine me staring speechless at a blank text box for several minutes as the prelude to this review.