Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Cabiria (1914, Italy)

This is topic Cabiria (1914, Italy) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ron Keillor (Member # 1790) on 10-12-2006, 01:25 AM:

Vancouver Film Festival presentation Sunday October 8 at the Festival Theatre, Seymour Street. Piano accompaniment by Stefano Maccagno.
Lovely reconstructed tinted! 35mm print. Projectors were Kinotons, and shown at 16fps, running time was about 9 min. short of the 180:17 listed by the notes from the Cannes Festival, so perhaps the speed may be out by a very small amount. Some flicker was noticeable in the first and last reels, it disappeared very quickly when the tinted sections started. Light level was very well judged as less would have made much of the film too dark.
A really huge picture, but when the titles came on (up to 14 lines of text will not be very readable in video versions) it could be seen that the picture was vertically centred but there was some cut off on the left side. The picture looked closer to 1.2:1, not 1.33:1. Focus was sharp throught the evening.
The piano accompaniment was very atmospheric and added greatly to the enjoyment of the evening.
Cabiria lives up to its reputation for innovation and influences on American film, with a moving camera and some effects echoing the films of Meliès. The audience was a mature, serious one, and filled the theatre (about 220 seats), and a good time was had by all. No intermission.