It's an interesting old movie. This is a very early epic movie with big sets, which influenced later American epics like David Griffitt's Intolerance. It is a shame that there is not a high-quality restoration available. I saw the movie on YouTube, based on an old DVD restoration, and the quality was barely good enough to make it watchable. A better restoration was supposed to be presented at Cannes a few years ago, but it has yet to be made into DVD or BlueRay. There is a version on YouTube with colour tinting and higher quality that may be this Cannes restoration, but unfortunately, the intertitles are in Italian with no English translation. But if you have seen the movie, I suggest this version for a rewatch.
As for the movie itself, it's okay. I do think Intolerance is a much better movie, and the set pieces in Intolerance are much better as well. Cabiria gets points for being less preachy and for having more daring scenes like child sacrifices. The Mount Etna scene is very well done and has the most impressive special effects in the movie.
The story is all over the place; it looks like the creators tried to mash in as many unrelated historical events as possible to create the set pieces: an eruption of Mount Etna, Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants, Archimedes destroying the rival navy with spherical mirrors, and the siege of Carthage. As a result, the story jumps too much and does not feel cohesive. It's roughly a story about a girl kidnapped as a child and all the misadventures she suffered until being rescued and marrying a Roman consul. There are too many characters; sometimes, it takes effort to keep track of them or figure out who is who. There is little acting; the actors spend most of their time making exaggerated hand gestures. Since the movie went for a happy ending, I would have loved to see a scene of Cabiria reencountering with her father. Some aspects of the film are inappropriate for modern standards. The role of the slave Maciste is played by a white man in blackface, and Flavius, the Roman consul, who is viewed as a hero in the movie, marries Cabiria whom he met when he was an adult and she was eight years old.
Overall, it is an interesting watch if you are into early cinema history, but skippable if you aren't.
As for the movie itself, it's okay. I do think Intolerance is a much better movie, and the set pieces in Intolerance are much better as well. Cabiria gets points for being less preachy and for having more daring scenes like child sacrifices. The Mount Etna scene is very well done and has the most impressive special effects in the movie.
The story is all over the place; it looks like the creators tried to mash in as many unrelated historical events as possible to create the set pieces: an eruption of Mount Etna, Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants, Archimedes destroying the rival navy with spherical mirrors, and the siege of Carthage. As a result, the story jumps too much and does not feel cohesive. It's roughly a story about a girl kidnapped as a child and all the misadventures she suffered until being rescued and marrying a Roman consul. There are too many characters; sometimes, it takes effort to keep track of them or figure out who is who. There is little acting; the actors spend most of their time making exaggerated hand gestures. Since the movie went for a happy ending, I would have loved to see a scene of Cabiria reencountering with her father. Some aspects of the film are inappropriate for modern standards. The role of the slave Maciste is played by a white man in blackface, and Flavius, the Roman consul, who is viewed as a hero in the movie, marries Cabiria whom he met when he was an adult and she was eight years old.
Overall, it is an interesting watch if you are into early cinema history, but skippable if you aren't.