WED, APR 18, 7p:
MBC Interactive Archive Retrospective:
Highlights of World Cinema
THE ITALIAN SPECTACLE
Digitally mastered by Kino Lorber
from a superior quality 35mm print
CABIRIA
Directed by GIOVANNI PASTRONE/Italy/1914/123mins.
With Carolina Catena, Lidia Quaranta, Dante Testa,
Bartolomeo Pagani (Maciste)
Written by Gabriele D’Annuzio, based on the story by Titus Livius
US program for CABIRIA, 1914, from the MBC Archive.
Inspired by grand opera and Italy's imperialist victory in the Libyan War (1911-12), the Italian movie industry produced dozens of historical epics in the period just before WWI. The most influential and successful of these was Cabiria, the visually spectacular film which set the standard for big-budget feature-length movies around the world. The story concerns a girl, Cabiria, who is separated from her parents during the PunicWars in the Third Century B.C. In her odyssey through the world of ancient Rome she observes the eruption of Mt. Etna, endures capture by pirates, views the barbaric splendor of Carthage, and witnesses both human sacrifice and Hannibal crossing the Alps. This version was mastered from a superior quality 35mm print and recorded at correct projection speed. The piano soundtrack, performed by Jacques Gauthier, is adapted from the original 1914 score. (English intertitles)
“Both one of the most influential films ever made and one of the most rarely shown.”-Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
PLUS…
PIONEERING SHORT FILMS
Miami Premiere of the newly scored versions
by the Alloy Orchestra
These shorts all include new music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra, a three-man ensemble critic Roger Ebert called "the best in the world at accompanying silent films."
TONIGHT’S SHORT:
RED SPECTRE
Directed by FERDINAND ZECCA and SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN/France/Spain/1907/9mins.
A demon magician in his underground grotto provides a dreamlike one-of-a-kind journey for the viewer, even though the running time of the trip is only nine minutes. Presented by Pathé Freres as a directing collaboration between Frenchman Ferdinand Zecca and Spaniard Segundo de Chomón, this is one of the best fantasy trick films that survived from the turn of the century period.
With a “SNEAK PEEK” at the MBC Interactive Archive Project:
THE ITALIAN SPECTACLE AND DIVAS
(The entire period of 1890s-1920s will debut WED May 02!)
