THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1917, Page 6

THE EMPIRE.

WONDERFUL " CABIBIA." GREAT SPECTACULAR FILM.* 1 . It T7Rs not r.-.rprising tlifit the Ita'a Film Company, accredited with having malic the first really important motion picture, "The Fall of Troy," sliould have come forward with a Kim which iias not only startled the entire theatrical world, but has set c. new standard in motion-picture production. It is named "Cnbiria," and, after unprecedented seasons in America and the Continent, now wins praise of patrons at the Empire Theatre. Three nets and five episodes are necessary for the Celling of the story of "Cabiria." Never have Inovie patrons beheld such awe-inspiring panoramas outspread before their eyes; never have they seen such spectacular battles or witnessed more massively-staged productions. From the moment when the first scene—showing the interior of the tcmpie of the bronze idol, Moloeh, where helpless infants are burned alive a3 sacrifices to the pagan god—is flashed on tho screen, up to the end, action of a most amazing sort rivets the attention. During the production one is taken from tho Sicilian city of Catana, which is destroyed bv an eruption of Mt. Etna and an earthquake, to an'cent Carthage, and from there whisked away to the Alps, to behold Hannibal accomplishing his history-making descent upon Rome. Next is beheld the siege of Syracuse and Archimedes burning the Roman fleet with his gin.nntie mirror. One follows tlie wanderings of Fulvkis Axilla, the hero of the story, returning again to Catana, and from there journeying again to Carthage, which is by now besieged. Ere the film ends one gazes upon the turning deserts, across which the army of Syphax, King of Cirta, is slowly making its way, and the finish shows the Reman fleet returning again tc Italy. There are but three .women in the production in which the onlooker is interested—Cabiria, who we first see as a, child, her nurse, and Soplionvsba, the Carthaginian princess. The first and last of these aro beautiful in the extreme, and the trio are motion-picture actresses of the first ela'ss. l'ulvius Axilla, a Roman, is the hero of the story, but one is forced to take more interest in his powerful slave, Maeiste. The latter, appears as more of a friend to the Roman than a slave, and his beautiful physique keeps the eyes of the onlooker 011 him. It is a picture that must be seen to be appreciated to its full worth. It will be continued at tho Empire The'itre at a special matinee this afternoon, and again to-night and 10-iiicivow night.