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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (8) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (0)
Both one of the most influential films ever made and one of the most rarely shown.
In its particular way, Cabiria is beautiful and enthralling.
The mechanical effects are thrilling and excellent, and the photo drama is one of the most effective ever shown here.
Giovanni Pastrone's 1914 film is one of several early Italian epics that significantly influenced the form and flow of the feature film, then in its developmental infancy.
The international success of this Italian spectacle, the longest and most expensive motion picture made up to that date, allowed DW Griffith to gain support for his large-scale projects.
. The exotic drama, suspense, and daring stunts on display in Pastrone's film of "12,000 shots" is every bit, if not more effective, than that of modern filmmakers whose use of green-screen CGI is frequently used more as a crutch than a meaningful storyte
This stunning silent epic was a huge influence on D.W Griffiths when he came to make Intolerance, and matches that film for scope, vision and spectacle.
I find it tragic, enthralling, and mysterious that one of the most innovative films in the history of cinema is also one of the least known. In many ways, it was so far ahead of it's time, and so evolved in terms of the grand vision the film possessed. Simply put, every Epic film in the pantheon of cinematic history owes something to Cabiria. An appropriate and well-deserved nickname for this film would have to be the Godfather of Epics.
Super Reviewer
After the eruption of Mt. Etna, survivors/looters finds themselves lucky to find an abandoned boat after their escape. And then unlucky, once Phoenician Pirates return and kill most of them. Croessa(Gina Marangoni) and Cabiria(Carolina Catena) are taken to Carthage where Cabiria is set to be sacrificed to their gods. Croessa goes off in search of Axilla(Umberto Mozzato) and his slave Maciste(Bartolomeo Pagano), who she recognizes as being Romans living undercover there, in order to get their help. Meanwhile, Hannibal(Emilio Vardannes) is off on a skiing vacation in the Alps. "Cabiria" is a suitably epic movie done on a grand scale. Like many other early silent movies, the pace if very fast. So much so, that the movie tries to squeeze the entire Punic Wars into a two hour running time.(By comparison, I was going to bring up "Game of Thrones" but in this case I almost think it could sort of work, especially if you cut out all the scenes in brothels.) A bigger problem lies in the film's lack of focus, as not only does it forget the title character for long stretches, but so to do the other characters who are supposedly looking for her.
"Cabiria," made in Italy in 1914 by Giovanni Pastrone, had a huge impact on cinema, encouraging countless directors worldwide (among them America's D.W. Griffith) to take their craft more seriously and create longer, more artistically ambitious films. Unfortunately, I found the film a bore. I couldn't watch it for more than an hour. Set during ancient Roman times, it tells the story of a young girl named Cabiria born at the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily. After a volcano wipes out her home, she is sold to a Carthaginian priest seeking children to sacrifice in his religious rituals. The only gripping scenes were those in the Temple of Moloch, where naked children are sacrificed one by one as frenzied dancers cheer the priest on. Cabiria is rescued and ends up on the run under the protection of a fellow Roman and his slave. That's when the boredom really sets in.
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