Cabiria (1914)

Three centuries before Christus. Young Cabiria is kidnapped by some pirates during one eruption of the Etna. She is sold as a slave in Carthage, and as she is just going to be sacrificed to... See full summary »

Director:

Giovanni Pastrone

Writers:

Gabriele D'Annunzio (titles), Titus Livius (book)

Stars:

Italia Almirante-Manzini, Lidia Quaranta, Bartolomeo Pagano

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carolina Catena	...	Cabiria da piccola / as a Child (as Catena)
Lidia Quaranta	...	Cabiria - also called Elissa
Gina Marangoni	...	Croessa - Cabiria's Nurse
Dante Testa	...	Karthalo - the High Priest
Umberto Mozzato	...	Fulvio 'Fulvius' Axilla
Bartolomeo Pagano	...	Maciste - Axilla's Slave
Raffaele di Napoli	...	Bodastoret - the Innkeeper
Emilio Vardannes	...	Hannibal
Edoardo Davesnes	...	Hasdrubal
Italia Almirante-Manzini	...	Sophonisba - Hasdrubal's Daughter
Alex Bernard	...	Siface 'Syphax' - King of Cirta (as Alessandro Bernard)
Luigi Chellini	...	Scipione 'Scipio' - the Consul
Vitale Di Stefano	...	Massinissa - the Numidian King
Enrico Gemelli	...	Archimede
Ignazio Lupi	...	Arbace

Storyline

Three centuries before Christus. Young Cabiria is kidnapped by some pirates during one eruption of the Etna. She is sold as a slave in Carthage, and as she is just going to be sacrificed to god Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by both Fulvio Axilla, a Roman noble, and his giant slave Maciste. Maciste is captured just after having confided Cabiria to Sophinisbe's safe keeping, while Fulvio Axilla manages to escape from Carthage. Ten years went away with Punic wars before he is able to come back to Carthage...

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Plot Keywords:

carthage | slave | moloch | 3rd century b.c. | roman | 

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Taglines:

5000 People in Cast - 1000 Horses - 200 Elephants - 200 Camels (original ad)

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1 June 1914 (USA)

Also Known As:

Кабирия

Filming Locations:

FERT Studios, Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$210,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Itala Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min 125 min (1990 alternate) 123 min (Kino Restored Print) 162 min (1995 restoration) 181 min (2006 restoration)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Good morning Babilonia (1987) the leading characters (played by Vincent Spano and Joaquim de Almeida) are two stonemason's sons from Italy who go to the United States, and claim they worked in the movie "Cabiria" making statues. This ability gets them a job to do the same in David Wark Griffith's film "Intolerance".

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Alternate Versions

Eighteen Frame, Inc. copyrighted a version in 1990 with a piano music score based on the original score by Manlio Mazza, and performed by Jacques Gauthier. Intertitles were translated by Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron. It was distributed by Kino Video and runs 125 minutes, but there is also a two-minute introduction.

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Connections

Spin-off Marvelous Maciste (1915)

User Reviews

Fascinating early feature film epic worth a look

It is a little known fact that the feature film was born in Italy - that is, a film longer than the standard one or two reels in length -ten to twenty minutes. It is the crop of early Italian features, all epics, birthed in 1914, that influenced America's Griffith and DeMille. The length of CABIRIA is staggering - originally 2-1/2 hours in Italy and just over two hours here - considering most audiences were used to sitting and concentrating on a plot for only twenty minutes at most.

Were there Oscars then, the extraordinary art direction and special effects would have garnered noms - they are outstanding. The cinematography is unique in using early scanning and dollying techniques heretofore unknown in film. The plot becomes very hard to follow because the title cards are history lessons of alliances and battles that have little meaning for us and often we are aware of the cut 22 minutes in the surviving USA version as symbols and relationships which have great dramatic meaning for the players leave us baffled.

The print used by Kino and Grapevine video as well as Turner Classic Movies is impeccable - crystal clear and sharp.

For all fans of epic movies and for all film historians, this is a must see.