Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-01
BY l., III, BESSELL,

Wonderful, beyond description" is
the most adequate criticism, If sucn
ii may be called, of "Cabiria," q his
toric vision of the third century, B..
c., which opened yesterday at Proc
tors Park Place Theatre.
No word picture can reproduce the
marvellous and sensational scenes por-
trayed upon the screen, and to miss
seeing the picture would be some
thing to regret for a lifetime.
AS a prelude to the picture scene
In the great temple of Moloch, In
Carthage, is shown. The high priest
is placing a babe, the human sacri-
flee, into the brazen bosom of the
god The bosom closes and the babe
is shown squirming in the iron hands
of the god. Finally, the flames lick
the body of the child and another
victim has been claimed by the brazen
god.
So realistic are the scenes that a
gasp of horror escaped the audience
as the high priest placed the naked,
struggling babe on the bosom of the
god, and the door closes into place,
casting its human offering into the
seething fire.
The story of the film takes place
during the great struggles between
the Romans and Carthagenians for
supremacy.
Cabiria, infant daughter Of Batto,
is believed lost when Catana, Italy, Is
laid waste by the eruption of Mt.
Etna. Saved by her nurse, Croessa,
the child is later captured by pirates.
She Is taken to the slave market in
Carthage, where the. high priest buys
her as a burnt offering to the god
IL 20 he al
to her charge, is given charge of the
child. On the day of the sacrifice
the nurse attempts to save Cabiria
by pretending that the child is i'll,
which would prevent her being offered
as a sacrifice.
II subterfuge is discovered and
the lid taken from her. She Is
taken out and logged by slaves OF
the high priest. Recovering from her
dreadful ordeal sufficiently to walk
she makes her way along the walls
of the temple until she meets with
Fulvius Axilla, Roman soldier in
Carthage as q spy. With him is MS
slave, q powerfully built man of her.
culean strength. She appeals to them
to save Cabiria. They agree to at
tempt the rescue, and force their way
into the temple.
AS the high priest is about to offer
Cabiria to the fiery bosom of Moloch,
Maciste, the slave, seizes her from
the priest, and with Fulvius, fees to
the top OF the temple, The worship
pers, temporarily stunned by this
great sacrilege, quickly recover and
start in pursuit of the men. A pur-'
suer venturing too near, Maciste
seizes him, hurls him high in the air,
and then plunges him into cauldron
of boiling hot tar.
By coup they escape from the
temple and take shelter in the wine
shop of the Striped Monkey. After
being in hiding here for some time,
Fulvius hears that Hannibal, with
great Carthaginian army, has success
fully crossed the Alps and is descend
ing on Rome. He plans to escape
from Carthage. The proprietor of the
wineshop betrays the two men and
when they make their way out of the
wineshop in the dead of night they
are set upon by the guards and only
escape through the strength OF the
slave.
In the chase Fulvius is hotly
pressed. He reaches the edge of the
wall and without hesitation he leaps
into the sea many hundred feet be-
low. Maciste, burdened by the babe
eludes his pursuers and seeks refuge
in the garden of Hasdrubal, military
governor of Carthage.
Sophonisba is in the garden holding
tryst with Massinissa, king of the
Numidians, to whom she has been
plighted by her father. The slave
begs her to save the child, and she
takes her into the palace. Maciste is
captured and bound to the grist mill
of Carthage.
Cabiria becomes the slave of her sa-
yior, and is renamed ELISA. Full
vius, arriving in Rome from Car
thage, joins the proconsul, Marcelle,
in the siege of Syracuse, the ally of
Carthage. Archimedes, Greek, by
means Of rays of light. reflected from