Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-26
'CAB|R|A" WILL Be
PROCTOR FEATURE

Seven hundred men worked four
teen months to make picture.
Gigantic, stupendous, prodigious. CO
lossal-the critics exhausted their sup
ly of adjeetiVes in trying to de-
scribe the result The average spec
tator gave an exclama ton gasp and
single comment-aI wonder now
they did it,"
= 1t is a moving picture, 1906 spec
taeular feet of film, now being shown
in some of the worlds capitals, but
first conceived in the Imagination Of
Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Its title Is "Ca-
biria."
Beginning next Monday. August 81,
1t will begin two weeks run at
Proctor's Park Place Theatr
How was this vision transferred
from the poets mind to the movie"
screen? Therein lies a story as amaz-
ing as the film.
The drama. dealing with the death
struggle between Rome and Carthage,
Is as real as realism can make it.
Paradoxieally, it is sometimes more
so. To obtain the scenes on the slope
of Mt. Etna. for instance, the noun
tain itself was visited and hundreds
of feet of film were used. They do
not appear in the production A pic
ture of a miniature volcano enlarged,
with films of running people superim-
posed upon 1t, proved more realistic
than anything the mountain could
bring forth.
On the other hand, the desert scenes
We're staged in the deserts of Algeria,
and the gorgeous mountain panorama
showing Hannibal crossing the Alps
was actually made in Switzerland
The taking of seven hundred per-
formers dressed in the garb of Cartha-
ginian soldiers through the mountain
passes 5000 feet above sea level was
| piece of realism which turned out
to be more realistic than was desir-
able. History says that thousands
| of HannibaPs soldiers persisted from
exposure during his famous journey
no less than forty-eight members of
this moving picture army were in
capacitated during the strenuous
rehearsal.
A lake about twenty-five miles from
Turin. Italy, was chosen as the set
ting for the burning of the Roman
fleet. The cliffs Of Leghorn were the
scene of Fulvius Axilla's sixty-five-
foot jump into the sea to escape the
high priests of Moloch. And the old
Notifications of Civita Xeccnia on the
background for the meeting of the
child Cabiria with Axilla and his
giant slave.
But most of the other scenes were
taken in the studio or on the grounds
of the ITALIA Film Company, just out
side Turin. Here the great Temple
OF Moloch was constructed. It was
built of stucco, painted to be more
realistic. and was 120 feet high. The
temple. however. was merely a shell.
| all the interior scenes of the pro-
| duction being made in the studio, as
| it was found that artificial light was
necessary to obtain the effects de-
| sired.
To say that scene was made in the
studio does not mean that 1t was
skimped or sighted Many of these
interiors were constructed of real
marble when it was found that imi
tation would not show up properly.
| The burning Of the Roman fleet,
| however, was a piece OF trick photog-
raphy. One full-sized trireme was
| built. The other ships were built In
miniature and the film enlarged and
superimposed upon that showing the
real vessel. The composition is so
perfect that only an experienced NOV
| ing picture maker would suspect how
of Syphax was done in the same way.
Not the least part of the work was
the training of the seven hundred per-
formers-a task which few generals
of stagecraft would care to under
| take Months OF rehearsals we're nee
essary before the siege OF Citra. per-
haps the most remarkable scene in the
drama. could be filmed. Despite the
use of nets to catch the attacking
soldiers who were thrown from the
walls, nearly score were badly in
| jured in their efforts to suggest the
actuality of the struggle
| The attack upon the walls of Car
thage, minutes scene in the show,
was another labor of months. The
men who formed the human pyramid
by which Axilla scaled the walls had
| to undergo a special course OF phys
ical training for the performance.
The actors themselves did not know
what they were acting. Lines which
had no bearing on the struggle be-
! tween Rome and Carthage were put
! into their mouths. The scenes We're
not rehearsed in their dramatic Sc
| quence. Thus it was assured that no
rival company would be given
| chance to put out cheap imitation
| of "Cabiria." =
! Yet. with all this preparation the
| film would not have been possible ex-
cept for a newly invented device
which produces astounding stereosco-
pic effects. BY this ID is possible TO
swing the camera in every direction
without running the perspective OF
the pictures
"Cabiria" was completed in April.
1t was shown first, simultaneously,
| in Turin, Milan and Rome. Its sue
| cess was instantaneous. London ana
New York were selected for its next
appearance.
The sale of seats for the per
| Torrance at Proctor's began Monday.