Epic Babylonia Crane Shots from Intolerance (1916) (HD)

[@javimu111]

To see this in HD, which is probably close to what it looked like when it first screened in the Theaters, is a MAJESTIC experience.

[@TheHolyMongolEmpire]

My god, that panning shot starting at 1:22 is simply incredible. For its time that would have been quite the innovation. I’d love to know what kind of crane they used then to achieve that.

[@michaelmcdonald8452]

It was a balloon (edit : I'd always heard it was a balloon but a commenter here says he's heard different)

[@MrEjidorie]

Marvelous！It`s hard to believe that such a magnificent movie was produced more than 100 years ago.

[@TheHolyMongolEmpire]

To think a good quarter of the movies budget went to building this colossal set, truly amazing; only wish the set could have been preserved.

[@justinanthonyprochemdirect401]

It was. 3 Miles away. Babylon Court. Likely demolished this year.

[@quequel6184]

Bet they just tossed in the dunes with the mummy set

[@DOI_ARTS]

And buried it after filming

[@MothGirl007]

The set was actually left standing for years and was only torn down in 1922 - I wish they could have preserved it too. 😢

[@porflepopnecker4376]

Utterly astounding. CGI is a bad joke compared to this.

[@axelcarlsson6795]

I think CGI is a very useful and wonderful tool. But it's A tool and not THE tool.

[@FunkafiedBandit]

@@axelcarlsson6795 Buster Keaton had no need for CGI. You should take a look at his stunts and gags...

[@axelcarlsson6795]

SoCalGamer I have! Our Hospitality is one of my favourite films. And no he didn’t need it, but other filmmakers did for what they were doing. Could you imagine Jurassic Park or The T-1000 without CG?

[@FunkafiedBandit]

@@axelcarlsson6795Hospitality is a hoot! My favorite Keaton movie is The Scarecrow! The TRex in Jurassic Park was actually an animatronic and the movie has like 14minutes of CGI. And you don't need CGI for Q cyborg robot. Just take a look at Metropolis (1928). As for the gore, quentin Tarantino didn't use any CGI for any of the violence in Django Unchained!

[@axelcarlsson6795]

@@FunkafiedBandit It was an animatronic in certain scenes, and CG in others. That's the key: knowing when to use a practical effect and when to use a computer. Like the Lord of the Rings films: They massive amounts of CGI, and massive amounts of practical effects, because Peter Jackson knew that the fields of Rohan would look awful if he'd done them in a computer instead of shooting on location. BUT he also knew Gollum would look awful if he just put Andy Serkis in make-up instead of using a computer. CGI is not inherently bad. It's a filmmaking tool, like any other.

[@alg11297]

This one shot bankrupted the whole studio.

[@brendanbargmann6002]

Worth it

[@garrison6863]

One of the finest silent films ever in my view. Griffith had an eye for composition, and visual imagination, and an editing talent that no American had at that time. Strong influence on the upcoming Russian school.

[@thelivingfreakshow5892]

Honestly I'm just thankful to L.A. Noire for introducing this movie to me.

[@Sherif-n8h]

That's funny it's in the game

[@SkidMunro]

Colossal, to say the least! Always a thrill to watch and study!

[@salmurillo5803]

Crazy to think when you come out of the Tiki Ti and round the corner where the Vista Theater now sits is where this set was...amazing.

[@Frumess]

Absolutely incredible shot!

[@sidibill]

Actually not done with a crane. The camera, camera man, and D.W. Griffith were in an observation balloon that was tethered to some sort of vehicle by a cable that winched the balloon down as it moved toward the set.

[@aidantoponce]

That pretty cool

[@alansmithee9095]

Not done with a crane and not done with a balloon. Joseph Henabery, Griffith's second-unit director, interviewed by Kevin Brownlow in the sixties: "We built a tower facing this Babylonian set, with a studio-constructed elevator on it. The camera platform was mounted on top of this device. As it descended vertically, the tower moved forward on wheeled trucks wich rode on railroad tracks. These trucks had cast iron wheels, eighteen inches across; they were the kind of platform trucks used by railroad maintenance men... Four people rode on the platform: Griffith, Billy Bitzer, Karl Brown (his assistant) and myself... The camera platform was between a hundred and a hundred and fifteen feet... At the widest point, the tower structure was forty feet.... We rehearsed for about one and one and a half hour... We had to shoot with the light... So we were limited to a period between 10 am and 11 am... (K. Brownlow, The parade's gone by, 1968)

[@Tadicuslegion78]

Over a hundred years old-still more impressive than many big budget movies with all the CGI they got. I think like only Lord of the Rings can compete

[@BillGunslinger]

Despite using digital effects, the makers of The Lord of the Rings understood the tradition of the Hollywood Epic. One of the reasons why LotR movies can be as enchanting as the epics from the Golden Age. The same could be said about Troy (2004), which follows the same tradition.

[@Moosetta]

Lovin it. Wow, wow, wow.

[@mcashnv]

we have not surpassed this

[@spikeyapplesseashells9233]

Is that the old ancient tartarian building and city they using.. No way they could have built that for the set. No bloody way.

[@Sherif-n8h]

It's tartarian

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

Fact: this scene alone was enough to get you a new cruiser at that time. And entire movie was enough to bought a battleship.

[@jacobf1416]

i miss when hollywood would blow millions of dollars for cool shit like this

[@castlebound2010]

Amazing CGI ahead of its time...

[@MartianManHunter2258]

Too bad 30 years later a certain homicide detective had the set come tumbling in his hunt for the Black Dahlia.

[@ColtComanche]

Black Dahlia was the victim, not the killer

[@tnyamaneko6093]

I'm so glad this had such an importance in LA Noire, because this monumental set was frankly, vastly forgotten until then and a lot of people learned about it because of that game.

[@salmurillo5803]

LA Noire, loved that game.

[@rachelhilla8556]

Loved the movie.❤

[@Dante-bx6ej]

What a set!

[@johnerwin981]

yea what a GREAT shot..thnx!!

[@abdulqaderibrahim3851]

You are the greatest city in the world my home town Babylon..

[@trentblume5998]

Thx for clipping it

[@liveonerke]

Man out of costume at 2:10 dressed in 1916 street clothes on the balcony far right.

[@timothystegner3234]

What am I looking at? I don't think that is a set, in my opinion. It's solid. Not made of wood. And the final scene looks like an actual city. They can't build that for a movie.

[@sh-ig9fm]

If This is what 1915 movie sets are like then i can only imagine what real egyptians could do

[@josephaziz4971]

Stuart Hibbard These arent Egyptians. Egypt is in North Africa. This is Babylon, near the northern part of the Middle East.

[@sh-ig9fm]

Joseph Aziz thanks

[@SeruraRenge11]

Shame it was all torn down in only 3 years. You'd think they'd use it for a few more movies first.

[@Tsumami__]

I thought it wasn’t torn down till the 20s?

[@Maxschellenberg]

wow!

[@MelancoliaI]

from about 2:12 you can see a guy in a workman's outfit of the era on the rightmost platform

[@willypupo89]

The Daily Woo.

[@kappamannyce]

Yep

[@HooliNerd]

impressive

[@genyamaurysanchez7745]

Wao impresionante!!

[@sarahwalker4191]

Adam the woo brought me here lol ITS THE DAILY WOOOOO

[@fiko66]

wow

[@DLAScottSpalding]

Gorgeous images! Would love to share it but for some reason that function is disabled. :(

[@johnerwin981]

what real sharpness here- - all it needs is a good colorization job : )

[@brain8484]

The Daily Woo Adam the Woo brought me here ..

[@parapoliticos52]

Wow, their CGI budget must have been gargantuan

[@knowledgedesk1653]

It isn't cgi

[@gtubgle]

Daily wooo

[@audreycalcia6079]

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