wes-connors Three hundred years Before Christ, the volcanic Mount Etna erupts during an earthquake, destroying the Sicilian palace and estate where little "Cabiria" (Carolina Catena) lives. The young heiress manages to escape through a secret stairway leading underground, carried by nursemaid Gina Marangoni (as Croessa). When the dust clears, little "Cabiria" is believed to be dead and buried in the ruble. After escaping the devastation, she and Ms. Marangoni are sold as slaves, in Carthage.Next, "Cabiria" is to be sacrificed as a burnt offering to "Moloch", a brazen God who likes to eat children.Nurse Marangoni tries to save the girl, but is whipped for her efforts. She enlists help from Roman patrician Umberto Mozzato (as Fulvius Axilla) and his loyal dark-skinned slave Bartolomeo Pagano (as Maciste). With the muscular Mr. Pagano leading the charge, they rescue "Cabiria" from the fiery jaws of death. Obviously, this makes the God and his minions angry. The trio hideout at an inn while the plot thickens. Shuttled once more, "Cabiria" grows into a beautiful young woman, Lidia Quaranta (as Elissa).Written, produced, and directed by Giovanni Pastrone, "Cabiria" is a classic early spectacular.Most famous was Mr. Pastrone's use of camera tracking shots; this movement of camera increased the scope, and excitement, of motion pictures. He likes screen movement, as you'll see. This film also features Mr. Pagano's star-making role as the long-running character "Maciste". In fact, Pagano and Mr. Mozzato are the real "stars" of this story; after they save "Cabiria" from sacrifice, you care more about seeing them - especially "Maciste" - than you do about the frequently disappearing "Cabiria".******* Cabiria (4/18/14) Giovanni Pastrone ~ Umberto Mozzato, Bartolomeo Pagano, Lidia Quaranta, Italia Almirante-Manzini

barbb1953 Volcanoes, earthquakes, pirates, fire sacrifices, elephants in the Alps, camels in the deserts, ships all over the place, a heat ray, secret messages in poisoned jewelery, the first film appearance of Maciste/Hercules in a sword-and-sandal movie: what's not to enjoy? It's just unbelievable that this movie is almost a hundred years young.Well, there's a bit not to like. The first time I saw this, I spent most of the movie trying to figure out if Bartolomeo Pagano was really black. I don't think so, but am not really sure about that. If he wasn't, then it is off-putting to have a white star in black-face (in his case, 'black-body') with real black actors as extras. There's that plus some anti-Semitism, not to mention all the fascist salutes. These were the times during which the film was made.The first time around, the Moloch scene is horrifying on its own, and...***spoiler alert***...you're cheering on the heroes as they save the child. The second time around, after more thought, it's the invocation to Moloch that's so incredibly creepy against the perspective of all the young lives that would soon be offered up on battlefields throughout Europe (including Italy) in the upcoming 20th century wars.The storming of the city of Cirta near the end of the film is okay, but one can imagine D.W. Griffith sitting through it thinking, "I can do a battle-on-the-city-ramparts scene better." He did, too, with the storming of Babylon in "Intolerance." However, he didn't have Sophonisba. She makes a late appearance in "Cabiria," but...***spoiler coming up***...her death scene ends the film perfectly. And she makes another appearance at the very end. Yay!It's still an incredibly good movie, well worth watching.

John W Chance There are a great many silent films that deserve to be seen today, not only for their historical importance (or curiosity), but for their qualities as a well made film. Released in Italy in 1914, this first great epic film surely inspired D.W. Griffith to expand his vision, scope and sets for 'Intolerance' (1916), and influenced other film makers, including Ernst Lubitch for his 'Das Weib des Pharao' ('The Wife of Pharoah') (1922), as well as prepared audiences for other American films like 'Ben Hur' (1922), and 'The 10 Commandments' (1923). It's a spectacular epic feast of costumes, sets, and film making techniques.But as a well made film, it also has action and a good story, though for those who've forgotten their World History and the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage (I only encountered them in my high school third year Latin class), it may be boring, because it is awfully long. This may be why 43% of IMDb votes were a 1, but you really have to give this film its due. The story moves along; the sacrifice of children to Moloch is just one of many amazing sets, scenes and 'action packed thrills.' Allowing for the fact that sound was not yet a part of film making, the director had the actors convey a lot of 'dialog' through mimed gestures, with some acting drawing too much from the staginess of Italian opera. But we get Bartolemo Pagani in his initial portrayal of Maciste, a role he played in 25 films! Looks like he was wearing blackface to look African-- and it turns out he was. He steals most of his scenes.This is clearly a landmark film of the teen years and must be seen. I give it an 8.

Cineanalyst "Cabiria" is the pinnacle of the early Italian spectacle, which helped push cinema into the age of feature-length pictures and introduced the epic to film. Reportedly, the film cost some 1 million lire (or $100,000) to make and was financially successful, although due to the war, perhaps, not as successful as was "Quo Vadis?" (1912). It had a direct influence on D.W. Griffith's production of "Intolerance". According to Griffith biographer Richard Schickel,Griffith insisted on including large elephant statues in the courtyard setting, even though his researchers could find no evidence that pachyderms were ever a significant part of Babylonian iconography, because Pastrone used them in "Cabiria".The film begins with grandeur; the explosion of Etna is the most impressive sequence in the film. Nurse Croessa (played by Gina Marangoni) kidnaps little Cabiria (played by Carolina Catena); then, Phoenician pirates abduct Croessa, Cabiria and the other runaway slaves. In Carthage, High Priest Karthalo (played by Dante Testa) buys the child and wants to sacrifice her at The Temple of Moloch. Magnificent sets and the horror of child sacrifice make it the second best sequence in the movie. Roman patrician Fulvius Axilla (played by Umberto Mozzato) and his loyal slave Maciste (played by Bartolomeo Pagano) enter the scene and we mostly follow them through the rest of the movie."Cabiria" gets rather boring after The Temple of Moloch escapade, as the film relies less on grand set design and special effects and more on a dull and confused plot and bad acting--historical facsimiles, such as Hannibal climbing the Alps, a crazed Archimedes raving his large magnifying glass invention on as it sets fire to the Roman fleet and other moments withstanding. The performances are overacted and histrionic--even Pagano, who would become something of a star from his performance here. I can see why: he's muscular, and it's somewhat interesting to watch him do various acrobatics. Italia Almirante-Manzini, who plays Sophonisba, is the hammiest of all. Besides the sets and special effects by Eugenio Bava and Sergundo de Chomón, there is some nice nighttime tinting and Pastrone's dolly shots help pass some of the time. Nevertheless, the film lacks much cinematic innovation and remains largely theatrical; there is only one close-up, a point-of-view shot of a ring.