Tim here, asking the most burning question of them all: who’s ready to talk about Italian silent film?!?!
(Blogging pro-tip: italics and interrobangs make people excited to discuss things that they are not, in fact, excited to talk about).
But actually, we do need to talk about Italian silent film a little bit. Because this weekend marks the centennial anniversary of one of the greatest milestones in film history: Cabiria, a massive historical epic produced and directed by Giovanni Pastrone, and written by literary celebrity Gabriele D’Annunzio. It’s a film in which the title character, played by Lidia Quaranta as a young woman and Carolina Catena as a child, escapes the eruption of Mt. Etna, is captured by Carthaginian pirates, is rescued by a great Roman warrior Fulvio Axilla (Umberto Mozzato) and his muscular slave Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano), who are themselves then caught up in the Second...
(Blogging pro-tip: italics and interrobangs make people excited to discuss things that they are not, in fact, excited to talk about).
But actually, we do need to talk about Italian silent film a little bit. Because this weekend marks the centennial anniversary of one of the greatest milestones in film history: Cabiria, a massive historical epic produced and directed by Giovanni Pastrone, and written by literary celebrity Gabriele D’Annunzio. It’s a film in which the title character, played by Lidia Quaranta as a young woman and Carolina Catena as a child, escapes the eruption of Mt. Etna, is captured by Carthaginian pirates, is rescued by a great Roman warrior Fulvio Axilla (Umberto Mozzato) and his muscular slave Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano), who are themselves then caught up in the Second...
- 4/18/2014
- by Tim Brayton
- FilmExperience
Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...
- 3/27/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)
International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors
1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)
Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)
2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)
Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)
3. The Sapphires
Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)
4. The Wall (Die Wand)
Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)
5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)
Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)
6. Augustine
Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.
- 9/24/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
I remember seeing clips from Cabiria as a kid, in some silent movie clip show—I was terrifically impressed by the hulking slave Maciste, played by Bartolomeo Pagano, the closest thing I'd seen to a flesh-and-blood Jack Kirby superhero. The fact that Pagano had been a longshoreman, acquiring his musculature through actual physical labour rather than gymnasium-based masturbatory activities made him all the more impressive. Somehow you can tell honest muscle from the inflatable Schwarzenegger kind.
Well, Maciste was too popular a character for the screen to abandon, but Cabiria was a very expensive historical epic with massive sets and many costumed extras. Since the logic back in 1914 /15 was that sequels would gross less than originals (which proved generally true until recent years), some way to reduce the below-the-line was needed.
Above: "Like so?"
So, in Maciste (1915), Pagano plays himself, musclebound movie star, getting involved in a real-life crime caper...
Well, Maciste was too popular a character for the screen to abandon, but Cabiria was a very expensive historical epic with massive sets and many costumed extras. Since the logic back in 1914 /15 was that sequels would gross less than originals (which proved generally true until recent years), some way to reduce the below-the-line was needed.
Above: "Like so?"
So, in Maciste (1915), Pagano plays himself, musclebound movie star, getting involved in a real-life crime caper...
- 6/7/2012
- MUBI
Cabiria (1914) was the seminal Italian historical epic, adding to the gigantic sets and overplayed melodrama of predecessors like Nero and The Fall of Troy, with elegant camera moves (using Segundo de Chomon's first purpose-built dolly) and celebrity cameos for Hannibal and Archimedes. "It had everything but a story," observed Karl Brown, Dw Griffith's camera assistant. Giovanni Pastrone and Gabriele D'Annunzio's historical pageant influenced movies from Intolerance to Metropolis to Conan the Barbarian, and Fellini borrowed its heroine's name for his wife's role in The White Sheik and Nights of Cabiria.
But the figure who caught the public imagination was not the titular heroine, but Maciste, the heroic slave, played by Bartolomeo Pagano, a Genovese longshoreman with a spectacularly muscled physique. Maciste/Pagano went on to star in twenty-four more movies over the next fourteen years, of which the most famous (and the only one available, albeit in somewhat...
But the figure who caught the public imagination was not the titular heroine, but Maciste, the heroic slave, played by Bartolomeo Pagano, a Genovese longshoreman with a spectacularly muscled physique. Maciste/Pagano went on to star in twenty-four more movies over the next fourteen years, of which the most famous (and the only one available, albeit in somewhat...
- 4/1/2010
- MUBI
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