Nights of Cabiria - Criterion Collection

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A year after his international breakthrough film La Strada, Federico Fellini and his leading lady/wife Giulietta Masina collaborated on another masterpiece, a magical mix of neorealism and romantic optimism set on the streets of Rome. Masina's moon-faced and bright-eyed Cabiria is a passionate streetwalker with a heart as big as Italy and the emotional spontaneity of a child, a woman with a hearty passion for life whose constant weakness is falling in love with mercenary creeps. For a couple of hours we share the dreams and disillusionments of Cabiria as she rattles around Rome before once again losing her heart. The bittersweet heartbreak is tempered with a soaring celebration of the human spirit: no other Fellini film offers such honest hope in the face of such bitter devastation. Fellini left the poor and the working class to revel in the decadence of Rome's high society for his next film, La Dolce Vita, a film that could have sprung from Cabiria's hilarious chance interlude with a matinee idol (played by Amedeo Nazzari). Rambling and leisurely paced, Nights of Cabiria is a sweet film of warmth and simple grace. It became the basis of Neil Simon's American musical Sweet Charity, with Shirley Maclaine taking Masina's role in Bob Fosse's film version. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Giulietta Masina won Best Actress at Cannes as the title character of one of Fellini's most haunting films. Oscar® winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria) is the tragic story of a naive prostitute searching for true love in the seediest sections of Rome. Criterion proudly presents the restored director's cut in a breathtaking new transfer.

Customer Reviews:

A Square Peg in a World of Round Holes.......2007-08-28

Poor Cabiria. She's as dumb as a pet rock and as nice as a wet cat. She marches to her own drumbeat but the tune is all wrong. She has no self awareness, no dignity and no grace. She's no wise fool. Just a fool. A born victim. Too dumb to know any better and too desperate to quit. Imagine La Strada's Gelsomina if she had become a prostitute. Imagine Chaplin's little tramp as a woman. Yet we feel for her. She inspires derision but also pity. We see how desperate she is for love and inclusion in a world where she does not belong. She wonders here and there looking for love from predators and spirits. Her entire life is a journey in search of genuine kindness. Even the most pathetic of creatures need love and belonging.

Nights of Cabiria.......2007-06-26

In this bittersweet, poignant early feature from Italian maestro Fellini, Giulietta Masina (who was married to the director) brings off another demanding role with finesse and charm. Her Cabiria is a spiritual innocent thrust into the least innocent of professions, making her desire for meaningful companionship seem unattainable. Through it all, Masina radiates a plucky dignity that makes us root for her. Note: "Cabiria" is more grounded in realism than Fellini's later works, but this hardly detracts from the film's sizable emotional impact.

Not exactly disappointing, but..........2007-06-15

Nights of Cabiria doesn't live up to its formidable reputation but at the same time it doesn't exactly disappoint. Massina is not a good actress by any stretch of the imagination, too overreliant on volume and exaggeration for much of the film, but she is ultimately an affecting one when she stops yeling and just lets her face tell the story. It's Fellini at his most Chaplinesque, with Masina's whore a right little tramp, and its when it harks back to silent cinema that it's at its best. Her boyfriend's sudden change of character at the end seems to come completely out of leftfield and doesn't altogether convince, but it does allow for a truly beautiful final sequence. And it's interesting that of all the things for the Catholic Church to object to about the film, the one that incensed them enough for the sequence to be removed was a man with a sack dispensing blankets and chocolates to derelicts, a touching scene that acts both as a harbinger of Cabiria's probable fate and an affirmation that there is still some good in the world.

Criterion's DVD is a good presentation, boasting the uncut version with the long-deleted 'man with the sack' sequence, interviews with Dominique Delouche and Dino De Laurentiis, an extract from Fellini's The White Sheik where Massina's character made her first brief appearance and the original Italian trailer plus the US reissue trailer.

Very long, but worth it.......2007-05-16

I finished it 30 minutes ago and still can't stop crying. This movie was so incredibly good, and the ending was perfect. All of a sudden, you feel it coming like a storm.

It was paced in such a way where you start to know something bad is going to happen and as it unfolds, your guts tie up in a knot. One of those films that stays with you forever. Sad, but somehow comforting at the same time.

Haunting.......2007-03-04

I saw this movie years ago and thought about it every so often.
I rented it again,and when the movie ended,I realized this is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

I came here immediately and bought it.It's not often that you can watch a movie and really,
really care about the character as if they were a real person. That,my friend is acting.

Cabiria is unforgettable and will stay with you forever.

Average customer rating:

Cabiria
italian classic
italian classic
A silent epic blockbuster
Blockbuster of 1914

Cabiria
Starring: Carolina Catena , Lidia Quaranta , Gina Marangoni , Dante Testa , and Umberto Mozzato
Director: Giovanni Pastrone
Manufacturer: Kino Video
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ASIN: B00004Z4TJ
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Description

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 World War I. The most influential and successful of these was Cabiria, the visually spectacular film which set the standard for the big-budget feature-length movies around the world and opened the way for D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. De Mille. The story concerns a girl-Cabiria-who is separated from her parents during the Punic Wars in the Third Century B.C. In her odyssey through the world of ancient Rome, she encounters the eruption of Mt. Etna, capture by pirates, the barbaric splendor of Carthage, human sacrifice and Hannibal crossing the Alps. With meticulous care given to costume and set design, Cabiria was shot in North Africa, Sicily and the Italian Alps.

Customer Reviews:

Cabiria.......2005-10-26

One of the first sword-and-sandal Italian spectacles, and one of cinema's first epics of any kind, CABIRIA (1914) presents a fairly rare dilemma for the diligent reviewer. Usually the stars I give a product simply gauge my reaction on the `Love It-Hate It' scale. I love some bad movies and don't necessarily care for all the classics. My personal reaction to CABIRIA is a weak three stars. It was okay, but I can't say it had me on the edge of my chair, or that I didn't glance at the time on the dvd-player a time or two to see how much longer it had left.

On the other hand, there are some landmark films that deserve extra consideration. This movie was one of the first, my history book tells me, to take the camera out of its fixed seat in the audience and take the actors and action off the proscenium stage. Its sets were some of the most spectacular seen to date, and its special effects were state of the art. It contributed to the development of tracking shots and lighting against shadows to create dramatic effect. If it didn't quite invent the close-up, it certainly brought the camera closer to its restrained - for the day - actors. It helped prove that audiences would tolerate a two-hour film, as opposed to the then standard twelve to twenty-five minute ones. And, we're told, it so affected D.W. Griffith that immediately after viewing it he scrapped the two-reel melodrama he was then working on in favor of his first masterpiece, 1915's The Birth of a Nation, where he invented the close-up.

In other words, CABIRIA helped change things profoundly, and innovation deserves respect. Hence the strong four-stars to a movie I ain't all that crazy about. The story is certainly sprawling enough. A young girl, Cabiria, is separated from her parents in the confusion after earthquakes hit and Mount Etna explodes. Her governess takes her to Carthage, where the two are sold into bondage and the young girl is selected as an offering to the fire-god Moloch. Happily, a Roman officer, his slave, and a Carthagenian princess enter the story right about then.

While the film more or less stay with Cabiria, it does wrest itself away long enough to join Hannibal crossing the Alps, Archimedes devising a converging mirror weapon, and the Carthagenian Princess striking one of a countless variety of grand dame poses. The Princess's acting, as they say, plays to the bleacher and is evidence that the movie was hedging its bets by keeping at least some things late Victorian traditional. Traditional too, I imagine, is the healthy head of moss growing beneath her arms. You get more than one good look at her grunge sponges every time she lifts a worried wrist to her porcelain brow, and in a movie like this a character like her has a lot of worried lifting to attend to.

I'm not sure it matters all that much. You don't accidentally stumble upon movies like CABIRIA. You get them because you're curious about the history of cinema, and primitive tracking shots and special effects are as interesting as any actor or plot point. If you're like me and bring a dilettante's curiosity to films like this, you won't be disappointed.

italian classic.......2004-04-28

what a brilliant film; sets;costumes;lighting;direction;all excellent.it just goes to show what an overinflated position d.w.griffith has been given by historians.when pastrone was using the same devices a year before 'birth of a nation'.it's a film of epic proportions and ambition and kino has done a admirable job in it's transfer.all in all it's five star's from me

italian classic.......2004-04-28

A silent epic blockbuster.......2004-01-31

Cabiria was probably the most successful Italian silent movie. The scenes are still spectacular and enjoyable today. The story has several twists and surprises: volcanic eruptions, the royal palaces of Carthage, naval battles (including no less than the scientist Archimedes), and the African desert. Some of the scenes are memorable, in particular the temple of the child-eating Moloch (with a last minute rescue of Cabiria from the hungry idol).

Very interestingly, there is also a muscular superhero and a larger than life diva. The superhero Maciste shows that they had hormones drugs back then too; he went on to star in many other, now hard to find movies of the era (sort of a Rambo or Terminator precursor), some of which are really enjoyable (in particular Maciste in hell). The diva, the queen Sophonisba, first appears in her palace petting a leopard, and from then on there is a series of similar (quitessentially campy) moments (including a most theatrical fainting).

Blockbuster of 1914.......2002-05-10

This was the first complete silent movie I have ever seen, and it was fascinating to observe and ponder its making 88 years ago. Considering the limited technology in movie-making then, this movie was and is a masterpiece. It has incredible scenery and/or sets, and the costuming reflecting the ancient Carthaginian and Roman cultures is well-done, although I can see the influence of the styles of 1914 in clothing, hair, and makeup.

The melodramatic acting is corny at times, but it gave rise to discussion in my family about how exaggeration was needed in silent movies to compensate for the lack of speech, which in modern movies carries a lot of weight in creating the story. The written interludes with dialogue and narration were not frequent, and therefore not tiresome, however, I often found it hard to follow the plot, which has as much to do with my unfamiliarity of the history of the period, as to uncertainty about what the acting was portraying. Nevertheless, I kept my eyes glued to the screen, following the little Roman girl Cabiria, sold to the Carthaginians to serve as a ceremonial sacrifice, later rescued to serve in the palace, and all the ensuing events surrounding her as the tides of war surge between Rome and Carthage.

I discovered this movie after watching the movie, "Good Morning Babylon" which is about two young Italian men who go to America to find work, and end up meeting the film producer, D.W. Griffith. Griffith has just viewed "Cabiria" and is so overwhelmed, he throws away his current film to create one called "Intolerance" which he vows to make as good as Cabiria. In Intolerance he tries to recreate an elephant statue he had seen in Cabiria, and so while watching Cabiria, I was looking for and found those elephant statues. This historical chain of movies, from Cabiria, to Intolerance, to Good Morning Babylon, is an interesting study in itself.

Average customer rating:
Nights of Cabiria (1957) [Import]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000ASYV66

Product Description

A waifish prostitute wanders the streets of Rome looking for true love but finding only heartbreak.

Average customer rating:

Innocence Flows from the Soul of a Whore.

Nights of Cabiria (Import)
Director: Federico Fellini
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

KOREAN IMPORT
LANGUAGE: ITALIAN
SUB-TITLE: ENGLISH, KOREAN
NTSC ALL REGIONS
FULL SCREEN

ASIN: B000TN09IQ

Product Description

Giulietta Masina won Best Actress at Cannes as the title character of one of Fellini's most haunting films. Oscar® winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria) is the tragic story of a naive prostitute searching for true love in the seediest sections of Rome. Rambling and leisurely paced, Nights of Cabiria is a sweet film of warmth and simple grace. It became the basis of Neil Simon's American musical Sweet Charity, with Shirley Maclaine taking Masina's role in Bob Fosse's film version.

Customer Reviews:

Innocence Flows from the Soul of a Whore........2007-07-20

The present review is only for the movie. The quality of this DVD is unknown to me.
Director Federico Fellini was undoubtedly a film maker genius!
Since his earlier works "La Strada" (1954) and "La Dolce Vita" (1960) thru "Fellini Satyricon" (1969) and "Amarcord" (1973) till his lasts "Ginger and Fred" (1986) and "The Voice of the Moon" (1990) he has left a legacy treasure for film lovers and film makers.
Most of his films combine fantasy and reality in a rich mixture with no fixed boundaries. He displays his own personal conflicts in regard to religious belief; sex and love; youngsters' education; political and religious power; richness and poverty; all this themes and more are shown with a visceral approach.
The viewer will be attracted and repelled alternatively and at the end of each of his movies will go out of the theater (or the bed room or living-room) knowing that he/she has assisted to the show of a unique piece of art.

"The Nights of Cabiria" (1957) is still a constituent of the Italian "Neorealist" film school, showing the poorest neighborhood from Rome and its population of outcasts. The influence of this movement will always emerge in Fellini's movies one way or the other.
Cabiria is a whore striving to survive, at the same time her soul is that of an incurable romantic innocent.
The opening scene shows Cabiria being swindled by her lover. She survives to this harassment and continues living her harsh life.
The whole film is an endearing chronicle of her life, dreams, pains, joys and religious faith, but above all a compassionate regard to all her entourage.

The film was awarded with Foreign Film Oscar and Giulietta Masina with Cannes' Best Actress Award for her anthological performance.
A marvelous film to see!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

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Not very Troma-esque
Troma Rules, but this ones a miss

Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Starring: Jonathan Ball , Cabiria Cardinale , Holley Chant , Sonia Cole , and Bruce Critchley
Manufacturer: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001A79SU
Release Date: 2004-02-24

Customer Reviews:

Not very Troma-esque.......1999-11-02

I too am a fan of Troma films, and these 50th street production just aren't everything a true Troma should be. It has its funny moments... well, not extremely funny, but not enough to make me recommend this movie to non-Troma lovers. Whoever played the old Indian was amusing, and I like Beverly D'Angelo, and I was surprised to see her in a role like this. I also liked the film score, I'm a fan of movie music, and I'm sure we'll see the composer of this score in other productions. Anyways, if this is the last film you need for your Troma collection buy it, if you're looking for a well made film, skip it.

Troma Rules, but this ones a miss.......1999-10-23

I love Troma as a film studio and I enjoy a lot of their other films, yet this ones a miss. Its about a woman who turns into a pterodactyl. and thats it. its mildly entertaining, but not up to Troma standards. the funniest thing in the movie is Salvatore Dali, an indian cheif with an attitude.

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