Customer Reviews

Cabiria [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What really astonishes about Cabiria is that it was made in 1914. Technically it appears to be far superior to most films from this 'early silent' period. The story is interesting if somewhat complex and the acting is naturalistic. There are some amazing moments in this film, moments of horror, violence, comedy and genuine human emotion. At times the scenes of horror really startle because they are so unexpected in a film from 1914. The story carries the viewer far and wide over the Roman world, but does so in such a way that the epic feel does not overshadow the human drama and the complex emotions of the characters. This is a high quality DVD. The picture is fine with only a few signs of print decay. The biggest problem probably arises from the titles often being very long and rather flowery in their language, so that it is necessary to pause the DVD to read them. I have read that Cabiria was at one time shown at a length of three hours. This DVD is just over two hours. I have no doubt that this version is the most complete available, and given the variable speeds of silent films it is difficult to judge how much, if any, of the film has been lost. It would be good if there was some more detailed information, on the DVD packaging, which might clear up this issue. Furthermore I have seen stills of Cabiria which show that some prints were originally tinted. It would have been better if the film could have been restored with these original colours. These are, however, minor quibbles and do not change my decision to rate this DVD as highly as is possible.

This was the first complete silent movie I have ever seen, and it was fascinating to observe and ponder its making 88 years ago. Considering the limited technology in movie-making then, this movie was and is a masterpiece. It has incredible scenery and/or sets, and the costuming reflecting the ancient Carthaginian and Roman cultures is well-done, although I can see the influence of the styles of 1914 in clothing, hair, and makeup.

The melodramatic acting is corny at times, but it gave rise to discussion in my family about how exaggeration was needed in silent movies to compensate for the lack of speech, which in modern movies carries a lot of weight in creating the story. The written interludes with dialogue and narration were not frequent, and therefore not tiresome, however, I often found it hard to follow the plot, which has as much to do with my unfamiliarity of the history of the period, as to uncertainty about what the acting was portraying. Nevertheless, I kept my eyes glued to the screen, following the little Roman girl Cabiria, sold to the Carthaginians to serve as a ceremonial sacrifice, later rescued to serve in the palace, and all the ensuing events surrounding her as the tides of war surge between Rome and Carthage.

I discovered this movie after watching the movie, "Good Morning Babylon" which is about two young Italian men who go to America to find work, and end up meeting the film producer, D.W. Griffith. Griffith has just viewed "Cabiria" and is so overwhelmed, he throws away his current film to create one called "Intolerance" which he vows to make as good as Cabiria. In Intolerance he tries to recreate an elephant statue he had seen in Cabiria, and so while watching Cabiria, I was looking for and found those elephant statues. This historical chain of movies, from Cabiria, to Intolerance, to Good Morning Babylon, is an interesting study in itself.

I'm a silent-movie fan, so I'm patient to silent movies. Most movies made before 1920 lack fanciful camerawork, as direction was just becoming an artform. These films have a lot of wide shots, almost as if you're watching a play. "Cabiria" is one of the films that breaks the barriers of the day; panning shots begin to evolve; zoom effects created by rolling the camera to tighten the view of the acting; special effects, such as a volcano eruption that was revolutionary for it's time. "Cabiria" also raised the bar for costuming, set design and general investment in production.

Kino on Video creates wonderful products and the print used on this DVD is very clean. The score is piano-based from the original 1914 score.

Overall; If you are a silent fan, or if you're curious to see the films that developed the artform of film, "Cabiria" is a good investment!

Cabiria was probably the most successful Italian silent movie. The scenes are still spectacular and enjoyable today. The story has several twists and surprises: volcanic eruptions, the royal palaces of Carthage, naval battles (including no less than the scientist Archimedes), and the African desert. Some of the scenes are memorable, in particular the temple of the child-eating Moloch (with a last minute rescue of Cabiria from the hungry idol).

Very interestingly, there is also a muscular superhero and a larger than life diva. The superhero Maciste shows that they had hormones drugs back then too; he went on to star in many other, now hard to find movies of the era (sort of a Rambo or Terminator precursor), some of which are really enjoyable (in particular Maciste in hell). The diva, the queen Sophonisba, first appears in her palace petting a leopard, and from then on there is a series of similar (quitessentially campy) moments (including a most theatrical fainting).

I became interested in "Cabiria" as a ressult of watching Griffith's "intolerance" (Kino version) where an excerpt of the action on the temple of Moloch was included, and I knew then I needed to see the whole movie, which was most definitely an inspiration for the Griffith masterpiece.
Cabiria is a little girl that lives with her family in the proximity of the Aetna volcano in Sicily. She undergoes a series of complex adventures as she is saved by her nurse, then kidnapped by pirates and then sold into slavery and bought by Moloch's priest with the purpose of sacrificing her in the fiery furnace at the statue of the god, which truly deserves the title of first really scary mechanical contraption in film. She is rescued by Romans Fulvio Axilla and his "Herculean" (as described by the NY Times review at the viewing at the Knickerbocker theater in NY) assistant-side kick, Maciste, both of whom her nurse encountered at the city walls. As Romans, they were spying on Carthage's defenses at this time of the Punic Wars, but it takes them no time to morph into heros willing to rescue Cabiria. However her story does not end there, and it goes through a lot more convolutions before she can return home for the happy ending. The complexity of the story can be attributed to Gabriele D'Anunzio who was the official script writer as well as the author of the typically flamboyant intertitles by Italy's "damned poet" , enfant terrible and celebrity of that time.
There was also a political interest and D'Anunzio fully supported Italy's imperialist policies which were anexing territories during these years of war with the Ottoman Empire. So it was the right time to remind the Italian public, and the world at large of the brutality of ancient Carthage's religion, and the improvement that obviously came with Roman conquest.
This movie is unbelievable for what it encompasses: A volcanic eruption, (where the tragedy of Cabiria begins as she is separated from her parents) a naval battle where we see Archemedes working at burning the Roman fleet with his mirrors, Hannibal crossing the alps, elephants included, and the elaborate battle scene during the siege of an ancient city.
The most memorable scene is the gruesome ceremony at the temple of Moloch of the burning of the children as sacrifice for the god. The architecture influenced not only the Babylon of "Intolerance" but the principal machine in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" which looks at one point in that film remarkably close to the facade of this temple. The attention to detail throughout the movie, whether in costumes, props or architecture is superb.
However what really makes the movie memorable, aside from the camera work of Segundo de Chomón, which is extraordinary for the time, is the starring of Itala Almirante-Manzini in the role of Princess, then queen, Sophonisba as the first Diva of the silver screen and Bartolomeo Pagano as the first muscle-man superhero on film as Maciste.
The first time we see Sophonisba she is in a terrace, and looks like a Symbolist painting in her exquisite 19th century art nouveau jewelry and exotic dress. She is in a couch, and all is luxury and splendor around her, including her pet leopard that she caresses is a suggestive manner that encapsulates the whole concept of 19th century decadence as she runs her fingers through his tail. From that scene forward she always appears in similar attire, surrounded by fan bearing slaves, musicians and attendants, and wether she is entertaining a victorious hero, dreaming an elaborate nightmare or just looking over her terrace, she gestures dramatically and appears ready to burst into an aria every other minute. She is all of Hollywood's glamour one generation earlier and went on to a very successful movie career, and died, most fittingly, bitten by a poisonous insect during a theatrical tour in 1941 that took her to Brazil.
Her death scene in "Cabiria" is worth the price of the movie. She drinks poison hidden in a bracelet, which of course she dissolves in a golden cup worth a king's ransom, that is sent to her by her husband when it looks like she will be taken prisoner by the Romans. It is at this point that she decides to free Cabiria from her cell at Moloch's temple, where she was taken again, years after her rescue, to be sacrificied. Cabiria was her slave, but Sophonisba had a disturbing dream that decided her on that course of action, and they are reconciled before Sophonisba dies in a convoluted exercise of delicate contorsions and death spasms between her couch, a difficult standing posture and her final collapse in the rug that only she could have possibly pulled off.
Maciste is just as fun to look at. From the first time we see him he is showing off a magnificent physique that looks perfect in Roman clothes. He flexes his muscles at any excuse and opens the iron bars of the prison window without much trouble in what is surely the first filmed instance of this classic superhero feat, another moment of glory occurs when he thows a Carthaginian into a fiery torch at the temple of Moloch. Wether he is throwing off enemies as if they were made of cardboard or climbing a tree to get through a window at the high priest's palace, there is never a dull moment in watching this action hero, who also has a comical side, aptly demonstrated when he is locked up with Fulvio in a basement full of succulent food supplies and good wine. It's no wonder he went on to a whole career in Maciste -muscle-hero movies, which must have been the ancestors of all the sandal and sword movies that came later.
This epic is an absolue must for those who love quality in film, no matter where and when it was produced; but I must say it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the epic blockbuster, full motion picture was an Italian invention, a fitting continuation of their cultural achievement in Opera.

One of the first sword-and-sandal Italian spectacles, and one of cinema's first epics of any kind, CABIRIA (1914) presents a fairly rare dilemma for the diligent reviewer. Usually the stars I give a product simply gauge my reaction on the `Love It-Hate It' scale. I love some bad movies and don't necessarily care for all the classics. My personal reaction to CABIRIA is a weak three stars. It was okay, but I can't say it had me on the edge of my chair, or that I didn't glance at the time on the dvd-player a time or two to see how much longer it had left.

On the other hand, there are some landmark films that deserve extra consideration. This movie was one of the first, my history book tells me, to take the camera out of its fixed seat in the audience and take the actors and action off the proscenium stage. Its sets were some of the most spectacular seen to date, and its special effects were state of the art. It contributed to the development of tracking shots and lighting against shadows to create dramatic effect. If it didn't quite invent the close-up, it certainly brought the camera closer to its restrained - for the day - actors. It helped prove that audiences would tolerate a two-hour film, as opposed to the then standard twelve to twenty-five minute ones. And, we're told, it so affected D.W. Griffith that immediately after viewing it he scrapped the two-reel melodrama he was then working on in favor of his first masterpiece, 1915's The Birth of a Nation, where he invented the close-up.

In other words, CABIRIA helped change things profoundly, and innovation deserves respect. Hence the strong four-stars to a movie I ain't all that crazy about. The story is certainly sprawling enough. A young girl, Cabiria, is separated from her parents in the confusion after earthquakes hit and Mount Etna explodes. Her governess takes her to Carthage, where the two are sold into bondage and the young girl is selected as an offering to the fire-god Moloch. Happily, a Roman officer, his slave, and a Carthagenian princess enter the story right about then.

While the film more or less stay with Cabiria, it does wrest itself away long enough to join Hannibal crossing the Alps, Archimedes devising a converging mirror weapon, and the Carthagenian Princess striking one of a countless variety of grand dame poses. The Princess's acting, as they say, plays to the bleacher and is evidence that the movie was hedging its bets by keeping at least some things late Victorian traditional. Traditional too, I imagine, is the healthy head of moss growing beneath her arms. You get more than one good look at her grunge sponges every time she lifts a worried wrist to her porcelain brow, and in a movie like this a character like her has a lot of worried lifting to attend to.

I'm not sure it matters all that much. You don't accidentally stumble upon movies like CABIRIA. You get them because you're curious about the history of cinema, and primitive tracking shots and special effects are as interesting as any actor or plot point. If you're like me and bring a dilettante's curiosity to films like this, you won't be disappointed.

Most of the silent feature films I have seen are either comedies (Chaplin, Keaton) or horror/sci-fi (Nosferatu, Metropolis). I felt like looking for silent films in different genres, and when I discovered that Cabiria is a very early and historically significant film I decided to give it a chance. To my very pleasant surprise I found Cabiria to be a truly enjoyable historical adventure epic - something that is a lot of fun to watch and not just of intellectual interest. I think fans of silent films will appreciate the technical achievements, and those who don't normally watch silent films will be captivated by the action and enormous set pieces. I want to tell people about this relatively unknown movie because I think many more people should see it. I would wager that it is one of the few silent films that could actually be of real interest to modern general audiences. This Kino release has picture quality that is cleaned up and extremely clear, new highly readable title cards, and a restoration that brings us the complete film for the first time in I don't know how long. Thanks to Kino this is a highly approachable and easy to enjoy film.

Cabiria takes place during the Punic Wars a couple of centuries before Julius Caesar. The film begins when a Roman town is destroyed by a volcano. A little girl named Cabiria and her nurse escape the volcano's destruction only to be captured by pirates and sold as slaves. Cabiria is sold to the priests of Carthage who intend to sacrifice her to the god Molech. The girl's nurse finds two fellow Romans and begs them to find and rescue Cabiria before she is sacrificed in the fire. One of the Roman heroes is a strong muscle man. (When this film was made in 1914 it was decades before the birth of modern bodybuilding. One may wonder how our hero was able to bulk up so much.) Muscle Man and his sidekick rescue Cabiria from the fire only to get caught up in the Roman-Carthaginian war. The heroes entrust Cabiria to a mysterious woman just before they are captured by the Carthaginian army. The heroes spend the next 10 or 20 years in a continual cycle of getting captured, doing forced labor, escaping, looking for Cabiria, getting captured again, spending time in prison, escaping, and continuing the search for the little girl.

Meanwhile there is the constant war, cities laid seige, political alliances, and mass destruction. To be completely honest after my first viewing I do not understand many of the finer points of the plot. The film was made for an Italian audience whose history involves the Punic Wars, a subject which I desperately need a refresher course in. The movie has a LOT of characters (most of them admittedly minor) who can be difficult to keep straight. The title cards have some verbose exposition. There is a lot of political intrigue, and many references are made to various deities of different nations. All of this worked together to make it difficult for me to follow what was going on at times. BUT PLEASE DON'T CONSIDER THAT A FLAW OF THE MOVIE BECAUSE I THINK IT IS A PLUS. I think that this film is so rich that one can enjoy the action/adventure aspect on the first viewing and watch it later to get a better understanding of the plot and historical details.

This film looks amazing. It is famous for inventing new camera styles including medium shots, panning, and different kinds of staging - but I am not qualified to talk about that. What I can tell you is the detail of the sets. There is ALWAYS stuff happening in the background. There are always people way in the background going about their business, something you don't see much of in early silent films. The sets are HUGE and incredibly detailed. Costumes and buildings are beautiful. (Although I admit that swords usually look REALLY cheesy!) The visual effects hold up even today. The volcano looks real. I love the seamless double exposure (I think that's what it is) where you see a big city or something being destroyed in the background while lots of people are running around in front at the bottom of the screen. The most amazing thing about this movie in my opinion is the sense of very real danger. I honestly believed that the actors were actually in danger of personal injury from cities falling on them or from them falling. No, they weren't in as much danger as Buster Keaton in the General, but I still had the sense that in every action scene the actors took their lives into their hands. I tell you THAT MAKES FOR AN EXCITING MOVIE!!! I'll give you two examples. In one scene the volcano is destroying the town. People are running up and down, back and forth, like headless chickens trying to escape the destruction as the city collapses around them. Walls fall. Ceilings fall. And they barely miss the actors' heads. Sure the falling rock is probably made of some sort of foam, but it looks dangerous. The second scene actually IS dangerous. The Roman army is trying to scale the wall of Carthage to invade the city, but apparently nobody brought any rope. The soldiers form a huge human staircase by getting in formation, holding their broad shields above their heads, and letting their comrades climb up on their shields and do the same thing. This must have been a 50 man formation trying to get over this wall. There were no CGI effects. These were men holding up other men with their shields! Any moment you're expecting Charlie Chaplin to come and knock the whole thing over, but the threat of injury to the actors is no laughing matter.

This movie has some great characters too. The muscle man, his sidekick, the nurse, the priest of Molech, and especially the Queen of Carthage who actually helps Cabiria and her rescuers while she is at war and forming political alliances against their country. The Queen's palace is one of the most beautiful sets in the movie, and the Queen is twice seen petting a real live adult leopard. (Any cat lovers out there?) The Musclebound Hero is a character with true charisma and some apparent wrestling prowess. If he had a sword and suit of armor he could probably conquer Carthage by himself, but he prefers to run around wearing nothing but what looks like wrestling shorts, showing off his bronzed muscles, and fighting with his bare hands like Hercules. That's probably why he keeps getting captured. Although this movie has no nudity (and only one implied but not seen sex scene in which the priest takes Cabiria into his chamber to -we assume- rape her), anyone who likes to admire the bodies of their on-screen heroes and heroines will not be disappointed. The hero's bronzed muscles take center stage, and the gorgeous Queen wears a beautiful, revealing dress that shows off much (including her sexy Italian underarm hair for those who are into that).

I could keep writing, but it would be redundant. Cabiria is pure excitement from the first scene to the last, and you would do yourself a favor to see it. Then do your friends a favor and tell them about it.

HFS this film is sick. a mix of classic arabesque and fantasy from 1913. nice special effects of mt vesuvious erupting, the gianormous statue of moloch and feeding children into a giant oven. . hella text cards include elaborate invocations to pagan dieties.

the piano score sucks.

what a brilliant film; sets;costumes;lighting;direction;all excellent.it just goes to show what an overinflated position d.w.griffith has been given by historians.when pastrone was using the same devices a year before 'birth of a nation'.it's a film of epic proportions and ambition and kino has done a admirable job in it's transfer.all in all it's five star's from me

what a brilliant film; sets;costumes;lighting;direction;all excellent.it just goes to show what an overinflated position d.w.griffith has been given by historians.when pastrone was using the same devices a year before 'birth of a nation'.it's a film of epic proportions and ambition and kino has done a admirable job in it's transfer.all in all it's five star's from me