Must-Watch List Comparable to the Style of Intolerance: Cult Guide

Dir: D.W. Griffith

John Howard Payne at his most miserable point in life, writes a song which becomes popular and inspires other people at some point in their lives.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Broken Blossoms perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

Frank Andrews is a successful businessman. He has always found pride and joy in the company of his wife, son and daughter. He suddenly finds himself enthralled by the advances of a gay young woman siren, who lives in the same apartment house as he does. So marked an influence does she have over him as time progresses that at last he quite forgets his home ties, neglects his family, and goes the way of many other men who have forgotten the meaning of paternity and blood ties. The story is advanced through many scenes enacted with the accompanying notes of New York's night life, and the denouement comes when the faithful wife discovers her husband's infidelity. At this time the mother's mind nearly loses balance, while Jane, the beautiful daughter, crazed by the grief of her mother, determines to take part in the tragedy. With revolver in hand she steals up to the apartment of the woman, but her frail nature is overcome by the temperamental anger of the woman and her mission fails. However, the errand is not fraught with failure for the father, coming in at this moment, finds his daughter being made love to by the sweetheart of the young woman, and realizes the road upon which he has traveled. When he confronts his daughter and says, "You, my daughter, what are you doing here?" The daughter answers, "My father, what are you doing here?" The realization is brought home to the father's mind that the law of moral ethics that governs a woman's life necessarily governs that of wan as well. Reformation comes in his character. He takes his daughter away with him and together they go back to their home of happiness and content.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Battle of the Sexes perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Jeannette Peret, daughter of a cigar-store owner, leaves her Greenwich Village home for France in hopes of finding there the love which eludes her at home. She becomes enamored of le Bebe, a giant of a vegetable peddler, but his unsophisticated ways disillusion her. Edward Livingston, a wealthy young man from home who had spurned Jeannette, now turns up and realizes the error of his ways. But he, too, has a great flaw, and only the outbreak of war , ironically, is able to lead Jeannette to a peaceful conclusion to her quest.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

Story of two brothers who go off to France to fight in World War I, the women who love them and an American expatriate living in France who rallies behind his former country.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Greatest Thing in Life perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Prevented from dating his sweetheart by his uncle, a young man turns his thoughts to murder.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

In the last days of ancient Babylon, a tomboyish mountain girl fights for her king when the city is attacked.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Girl Who Stayed at Home perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A dramatic comparison between the mating habits of animals and the way humans choose their own partners.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

John Logan leaves his parents and sweetheart in bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the city. Those he left behind become miserable and beleaguered in his absence, but after several years he returns, a wealthy man.

Dir: D.W. Griffith

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.