In 2019 is there any point watching....

[Peru]

Intolerance (which Griffith made as a direct result of the negative comments Birth received)

This actually isn't true. It's a very well disseminated myth which has the obvious effect of rehabilitation but apparently it was made up. I recall reading something about this in Film Comment a couple of years back.

[A Hat Like That]

It did give us this gif:

[St_Eddie]

It did give us this gif:

Second funniest death scene ever (the first being Guy Pearce's girlfriend in The Time Machine).

[lipsink]

Not sure if I'm remembering it properly but isn't there quite a brutal (for the time) moment where a soldier is in the house and gets shot in the face?

[Shit Good Nose]

This actually isn't true. It's a very well disseminated myth which has the obvious effect of rehabilitation but apparently it was made up. I recall reading something about this in Film Comment a couple of years back.

It's a case of "depends who you ask" - there's enough contemporary material on previous blu ray, DVD and laserdisc releases that back it up, not least interviews with Griffith during the making of Intolerance.  It also gets a mention in several books about Griffith and his films.

On the other hand, one of Intolerance's chapters was in the planning and set to be a stand-alone piece prior to the conception of Birth of a Nation, and a few modern critics think that Griffith exaggerated and/or contrived his claim of Intolerance as a cynical response to the negativity attracted by Birth purely as publicity for Intolerance.

I suspect the truth and reality are somewhere in between the two.

[Egyptian Feast]

Not sure if I'm remembering it properly but isn't there quite a brutal (for the time) moment where a soldier is in the house and gets shot in the face?

Yep. I was surprised how bloody that bit was for a 1939 film. Not quite Bonnie and Clyde, but not what you're experiencing from Gone With The Wind. Scarlett does it, BTW.

EDIT: Crap quality, but you can see the splat.

[purlieu]

It's my dad's favourite film, and he has almost flawless taste in what he likes (although he dislikes a lot of very good stuff), so it's always been on my 'to see' list. I should probably watch it before I go back into work, because fuck off will I have four hours of free time juggling a job, a relationship, a dog and juggling classes.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Basically if you want to watch a decent long film from the silent era which isn't tonally all over the place, then it's pretty much Abel Gance's Napoleon and Erich von Stroheim's Greed, and that's it.

Would you not include Nosferatu and Metropolis in that selection? It's been a few years since I last saw them but loved both to pieces, and remember them as being tonally consistent.

[Shit Good Nose]

Would you not include Nosferatu and Metropolis in that selection? It's been a few years since I last saw them but loved both to pieces, and remember them as being tonally consistent.

I specifically meant those long epics.  There are loads of decent "normal" length silent films (although even then most of the best ones aren't American or British), including Nosferatu and Metropolis, but once you get up to that two and a half/three hour plus run-time it becomes very Slim Pickens (slim pickings) indeed.

[St_Eddie]

...Slim Pickens (slim pickings)...

Noice.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I specifically meant those long epics.  There are loads of decent "normal" length silent films (although even then most of the best ones aren't American or British), including Nosferatu and Metropolis, but once you get up to that two and a half/three hour plus run-time it becomes very Slim Pickens (slim pickings) indeed.

Ah, that makes sense, and I'd agree with your point completely then.

[notjosh]

I specifically meant those long epics.  There are loads of decent "normal" length silent films (although even then most of the best ones aren't American or British), including Nosferatu and Metropolis, but once you get up to that two and a half/three hour plus run-time it becomes very Slim Pickens (slim pickings) indeed.

What about The Iron Horse, The Big Parade, or Dr Mabuse, The Gambler? I'd say the first two mix drama, comedy and action very successfully, without jarring, and the latter is a masterpiece in slowly-built tension and dread.

Also, I'd argue that most of the best silent films were American. By the mid 20s particularly, a lot of top European talent had jumped ship and they were the envy of the world.