Cabiria (1914)
As of Tuesday, September 28, for all programs and screenings in the Dryden Theatre, patrons must show proof of vaccination and wear masks. For more information, please see our Health & Safety page.
(Giovanni Pastrone, Italy 1914, 148 min., 35mm)
Lavish and grand in scale, this Roman epic is one of the first feature films produced and, according to Martin Scorsese, deserves credit for many of the innovations attributed to directors Cecil B. DeMille and D. W. Griffith. During the Second Punic War, Cabiria is a young girl who, after surviving the eruption of Mt. Etna, is sold into slavery to be sacrificed the great god Moloch. In Carthage, Cabiria befriends Fulvius and the strongman Maciste, who must disguise themselves to escape from the city while avoiding Hannibal’s march across the alps and the Roman siege of Syracuse. A spectacle for the ages, Cabiria is the first popular film to use a tracking shot, referred to for years after as a “Cabiria shot.”
National Silent Movie Day was organized to celebrate the art of silent pictures around the world and will be held every year on September 29. Join us for our inaugural screening!