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REVIVAL CABIRIA
Jay Weissberg hails the restoration of the grandfather of epic films
You can toss your tapes and DVDs of Cabiria into the bin, for the newly restored print of the 1914 Italian historical epic, given a gala premiere in Turin on 20 March and soon to be available commercially, renders all other versions redundant. Cabiria is the grandfather of the epic film, hailed by the New York Dramatic Mirror as "the greatest photographic spectacle ever shown", yet only truncated prints (and no negative) survived. The new restoration, sponsored by Turin's Museo Nazionale del Cinema, brings the work back to 95 per cent of its original spec, while a restored re-issue of the 1931 sound version at last allows viewers to understand Giovanni Pastrone's vision for the two releases.
Lasting nearly three hours, Cabiria was considered shockingly long at the time of its initial release. Variety's critic wrote: "Many laughed when they heard the picture ran in 12 reels." (The original cut was four reels longer.) Pastrone knew he needed a big...