Cabiria

Gabriele d'Annunzio's rôle in the film's creation is highlighted in this movie poster.

''This article is about Giovanni Pastrone's 1914 silent film, for the Federico Fellini film, see The Nights of Cabiria.

Cabiria is a classic silent movie from the early years of Italy's movie industry, directed by Giovanni Pastrone. It was released in 1914.

The movie is based very loosely on Gustave Flaubert's exotic novel Salammbô. Set in ancient Carthage during the period of the Second Punic War, it treats the conflict between Rome and Carthage through the eyes of Cabiria, the title character, who is kidnapped by pirates, sold as a slave in Carthage, and rescued from being sacrificed to the god Moloch by a Roman nobleman and his muscular slave Maciste. Hannibal and his elephants fit into the convoluted plot of this epic film.

Italian author Gabriele d'Annunzio contributed to the screenplay and wrote all of the placards. The movie was inventive and innovative in its cinematography for the time, and was a major influence on Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith, although film critic Roger Ebert said Griffith "moves the camera with greater freedom and has a headlong narrative and an exciting use of cross-cutting that Pastrone does not approach." [link] The film also marked the debut of the Maciste character, who went on to have a long career in Italian sword and sandal films.

According to Roger Ebert, The Criterion Collection is preparing a DVD of the film for release in the near future.

A restored version of the film screened on 27 May, 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival, featuring by a filmed introduction by director Martin Scorsese.

Cast

Teresa Marangoni - Croessa
Umberto Mozzato - Fulvio Axilla
Bartolomeo Pagano - Maciste
Raffaele Di Napoli - Bodastoret
Lydia Quaranta - Cabiria
Italia Almirante Manzini - Sofonisba
Dante Testa - Karthalo

Cabiria

Cast

See also