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'{{Infobox film |name = Cabiria |image = Cabiria 1914 poster restored.jpg |director = [[Giovanni Pastrone]] |writer = Gabriele d'Annunzio (portrayed as the "[[auteur]]" in this poster) and others |starring = [[Bartolomeo Pagano]] |released = April 18, 1914 |runtime = 181 min (original)<br>137 min (1937 version) |language = Silent film<br> Italian intertitles |budget = 1 million Lira |country = Italy |music = | }} :''This article is about [[Giovanni Pastrone]]'s 1914 silent film; for the [[Federico Fellini]] film, see [[Le Notti di Cabiria|The Nights of Cabiria]].'' '''''Cabiria''''' is a 1914 [[silent movie]] from the early years of Italy's movie industry, directed by [[Giovanni Pastrone]] (1883-1959). The movie is set in ancient [[Sicily]] and [[Carthage]] during the period of the [[Second Punic War]] (218-202 BC). It follows a melodramatic main plot about an abducted little girl, Cabiria, and features an eruption of [[Mt. Etna]], heinous religious rituals in [[Carthage]], the alpine trek of [[Hannibal]], [[Archimedes]]' defeat of the Roman fleet at the [[Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BC)|Siege of Syracuse]] and [[Scipio]] in North Africa. Apart from being a classic on its own terms, the film is also notable for being the first film in which the long-running film character [[Maciste]] makes his debut. According to [[Martin Scorsese]],<ref>{{cite web |author=[[Roger Ebert|Ebert, Roger]] |date=July 2, 2006 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/REVIEWS08/607020301/1023 |title=Cabiria (1914) |publisher=rogerebert.suntimes.com}}</ref> in this work Pastrone invented the epic movie and deserves credit for many of the innovations often credited to [[D.W. Griffith]] and [[Cecil B. DeMille]]. Among those were the first use of the moving camera, thus freeing the narrative film from "static gaze". The script of ''Cabiria'' was partially based on [[Gustave Flaubert]]'s 1862 novel ''[[Salammbo]]'' and [[Emilio Salgari]]'s 1908 novel ''Cartagine in fiamme'' (''Carthage in Flames''). ==Plot summary== {{Expand section|date=August 2011}} The film treats the conflict between [[ancient Rome|Rome]] and [[Carthage]] through the eyes of the title character, who is kidnapped by pirates, sold as a slave in Carthage, and rescued from being [[sacrifice]]d to the god [[Moloch]] by a Roman nobleman and his muscular slave [[Maciste]] (who would later become the protagonist in a whole series of successful films on his own). [[Hannibal]] and his [[war elephant]]s feature in the plot of this [[epic film]].<ref>http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/cabiria1910.html</ref> A very detailed summary of the plot can be found [http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/cabiria1910.html here]. ==Cast== {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} *[[Carolina Catena]] ... Cabiria, as a Child *??????????????????? ... Batto, father of Cabiria *[[Gina Marangoni]] ... Croessa, nurse of Cabiria *[[Lidia Quaranta]] ... Cabiria, as an adult *[[Dante Testa]] ... Karthalo, the High Priest *[[Umberto Mozzato]] ... Fulvio (Fulvius) Axilla *[[Bartolomeo Pagano]] ... [[Maciste]], slave of Axilla *[[Raffaele di Napoli]] ... Bodastoret, the Innkeeper *[[Emilio Vardannes]] ... [[Hannibal]], the Carthaginian general *[[Edoardo Davesnes]] ... [[Hasdrubal Gisco|Hasdrubal]], the Carthaginian general; brother of Hannibal {{col-break}} *[[Italia Almirante-Manzini]] ... Sofonisba ([[Sophonisba]]), daughter of Hasdrubal *[[Alessandro Bernard]] ... Siface ([[Syphax]]), King of Cirta *[[Luigi Chellini]] ... Scipione ([[Scipio Africanus|Scipio]]), the Roman Consul *[[Vitale Di Stefano]] ... Massinissa ([[Masinissa]]), king of Numidia *[[Enrico Gemelli]] ... Archimede ([[Archimedes]]), the Greek engineer *[[Ignazio Lupi]] ... Arbace {{col-end}} ==Production== Italian author [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]] contributed to the screenplay writing all of the [[intertitle]]s and naming all characters and the movie itself. The film was noted as being the first popular film to use the tracking shot – the camera is mounted on a dolly allowing it to both follow action and move within a film set or location. For years afterward a tracking shot was referred to by both cameramen and directors as a 'Cabiria' shot. However in many cases Pastrone used these shots with no real purpose other than the novelty of camera movement within a location. In some instances the camera rolls toward and then right past what should be the focus of the shot. However, the movement was such an innovation at the time that other film makers quickly incorporated it. The film was a major influence on [[D.W. Griffith]]'s ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]''. The famous crane shot moving down and into the festival in Babylon is in a sense a 'Cabiria' shot taken to the ultimate extent. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] has said that Griffith "moves the camera with greater freedom and has a headlong narrative and an exciting use of cross-cutting that Pastrone does not approach."<ref>http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/REVIEWS08/607020301</ref> The film also marked the debut of the [[Maciste]] character, who went on to have a long career in Italian [[sword and sandal]] films. For many years, ''Cabiria'' and Griffith's ''[[Judith of Bethulia]]'' (1914) were considered the first feature films. However, several earlier examples have come to light in recent years, including the Australian film ''[[The Story of the Kelly Gang]]'' (1906). A restored version of the film screened on 27 May 2006 at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], featuring a filmed introduction by director [[Martin Scorsese]] and the film is now also available on DVD. ==Controversy== Like ''[[Birth of a Nation]]'', ''Cabiria'' has aroused its share of controversy because of the political nature of its subject matter. It was produced by Italian ultra-nationalist [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]] and was released soon after the [[Italo-Turkish War]], in which Italy conquered the North African [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] provinces of [[Cyrenaica]] and [[Tripolitania]]. The film highlights Italy's Roman past and the "monstrous" nature of Carthaginian society (with especial focus on the temple of Moloch), which is contrasted with the "nobility" of Roman society.<ref>Mary P. Wood, ''Italian cinema'' at p. 138</ref> ''Cabiria'' was therefore one of several films of the period that "helped resuscitate a distant history that legitimized Italy's past and inspired its dreams" and which "delivered the spirit for conquest that seemed to arrive from the distant past", thereby presaging the "political rituals of fascism" (wars of conquest, the [[Roman salute]], parades and the [[fasces]] itself).<ref>Gian Piero Brunetta and Jeremy Parzen, ''The History of Italian Cinema'' at p.34</ref> ==References== {{Linkrot|date=November 2011}} {{Reflist}} ==See also== *[[1914 in film]] ==External links== *{{IMDb title|0003740}} * {{Amg movie|7784|Cabiria}} *[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/REVIEWS08/607020301 Roger Ebert review] *{{gutenberg|no=27590|name=Cabiria : Visione storica del terzo secolo A. C.}} {{it icon}} [[Category:1914 films]] [[Category:War drama films]] [[Category:Epic films]] [[Category:Black-and-white films]] [[Category:Italian films]] [[Category:Films set in Carthage]] [[Category:Films set in Sicily]] [[Category:Italian silent films]] [[Category:Third Punic War films]] [[ca:Cabiria]] [[cs:Cabiria]] [[de:Cabiria]] [[el:Καμπίρια]] [[es:Cabiria]] [[fr:Cabiria]] [[it:Cabiria]] [[he:כביריה]] [[pl:Cabiria]] [[pt:Cabiria]] [[ru:Кабирия]] [[fi:Cabiria]] [[tr:Cabiria]]'