Triangle Distributing
Directed by D.W. Griffith
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Cohen Film Collection)
D.W. Griffith's towering epic weaves four plot lines: the fall of Babylon in ancient times, a few scenes from the life of Christ, an 18th century tale in the royal court of France and a contemporary story about a poor girl and her marriage. The emphasis is really on the first and last. In Babylon, a "Mountain Girl" falls in love with Prince Belshazzar and fights against the invading hoards of Cyrus. It features some of the most incredible battle scenes ever put on film: a full-size replica of the gate and wall of Babylon, the massive towers employed by the invaders to get inside and a huge cast of extras in hand-to-hand combat. This kind of imagery just cannot be duplicated by computers, and this illustrates how films such as The Lord of the Rings, which featured similar battle scenes, fail to make the same impact. The contemporary story pales by comparison and the "intolerance" connection is a stretch, since it is more about injustice than intolerance. The French story and scenes of Christ could have been left out entirely without much loss.
No comments:
Post a Comment