《Cabiria》

Japanese: 《カビリア》 - かびりあ

...The first film to start the boom was Luigi Maggi's The Last Days of Pompeii (1908), a short film just under 18 minutes long. This was followed by Enrio Guazzoni's Quo Vadis (1912), Mario Caserini's The Last Days of Pompeii (1913), and Piero Fosco's (Giovanni Pastrone's alias) Cabiria (1914), which marked the pinnacle of historical films, and all achieved worldwide success, ushering in an unprecedented boom in historical films. All were epic productions lasting over two hours, and the success of these feature films provided a major impetus and opening for feature film production in American cinema, which had previously been dominated by short films. ...

From Silent Movies

...In France, where absurd comedies using trick photography discovered by Georges Méliès and other films such as "A Journey to the Moon" (1902) were made, "literary films" were born in combination with literature and theater, and films such as "The Assassination of the Duke of Guise" (1903), which was a copy of a stage play, and films such as "Kean" and "The Butchers" (both 1910), "Les Miserables" (1912), and "Germinals" (1913), which were based on original works by Dumas, Zola, and Hugo, were made. In addition, playwrights were commissioned to write the scripts in an attempt to "artize" film, and films such as "La Traviata" (1911) and "Elizabeth the Queen" (1912), starring Sarah Bernhardt, were made. Meanwhile, in Italy, a thorough attempt at ``artisticization'' was made through the film adaptation of novels and plays set in Roman history, beginning with ``Cuo Vadis'' (1911), which created a style known as the ``historical spectacle.'' ``Cabiria'' (1914), which was produced with the participation of the poet and novelist Gabriele D'Annunzio, expanded the cinematic space by using moving filming in mobile vehicles and on locations with majestic natural scenery and historical buildings as a backdrop, marking the pinnacle of the ``historical spectacle.'' Germany, where primitive and childish "sprechender film" was also being produced, began to adapt literary works into films following the example of French "literary films." Films such as Schiller's Don Carlos (1910), Schnitzler's Amor vitae (1912), Hans-Heinz Ewers' The University Student at Prague (1913), and Wagner's opera Tannhäuser (1914) were adapted into films, and the country began to move from "activity" (Kientopf) to "film" (Kino) and further to "film art" (Filmkunst).

From [Spectacular Movies]

...It is a blockbuster that is made with huge budgets, lavish sets, extras, and a large scale of scale. In Hollywood, sex, violence, the Bible, and spectacle are said to be the panacea for the sick film industry, and it is considered the film genre with the highest box office value and has the longest tradition in film history. Its origins lie in the Italian ancient historical dramas that began to be made in the 1900s, when film was first created. At that time, literary works with Roman history as a background were made into films one after another, and many of them ended up being scroll-like works with little action. However, Quo Vadis (1912), a 6,000-foot, nine-volume, two-hour film that featured 5,000 extras and 30 real lions and depicted the burning of Rome and the massacre of Christians, and Cabiria (1914), a 12-volume film (the original version is said to have been over four hours long) about the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, were pioneers of spectacle films. The latter in particular represents the pinnacle of Italian silent cinema, and is known for the magnificent and magnificent literary subtitles written by D'Annunzio, a famous poet, novelist, playwright, and soldier. Innovative techniques such as the moving shots of the famous Spanish cameraman Segundo de Chomon (1871-1929) and artificial lighting from below at an upward angle, which was later named "Rembrandt lighting" in Hollywood, had a major impact on films around the world. American DW Griffith obtained a print of "Cabiria" and studied it closely, leading to the creation of America's first spectacular films, "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and "Intolerance" (1916).

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Cabiria" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…ブームの先鞭をつけたのがルイジ･マッジ監督《ポンペイ最後の日》(1908)で，18分弱の短編であった。次いで，エンリオ･グアッツォーニ監督《クオ･バディス》(1912)，マリオ･カゼリーニ監督《ポンペイ最後の日》(1913)，そして史劇映画の頂点となるピエロ･フォスコ(ジョバンニ･パストローネの別名)監督《カビリア》(1914)が世界的な大ヒットを記録して未曾有（みぞう）の史劇ブームが到来した。いずれも2時間をこえる超大作で，このような長編映画の成功が短編主体だったアメリカ映画に長編映画製作の大きな刺激と糸口を与えたのである。…

【サイレント映画】より

…ジョルジュ･メリエスが発見したトリック撮影による荒唐無稽な喜劇や《月世界探険》(1902)がつくられたフランスでは，文学や演劇と結びついて〈文芸映画〉が生まれ，舞台劇を引き写した《ギーズ公の暗殺》(1903)，さらにデュマ，ゾラ，ユゴーらの原作から《キーン》，《惨殺者》(ともに1910)，《レ･ミゼラブル》(1912)，《ジェルミナール》(1913)などがつくられ，また劇作家に脚本を書かせて映画の〈芸術化〉が試みられ，サラ･ベルナール主演の《椿姫》(1911)や《エリザベス女王》(1912)がつくられた。一方，イタリアでは，《クオ･バディス》(1911)をはじめローマ史を背景とした小説や劇の映画化によって徹底したかたちの〈芸術化〉が試みられて〈歴史スペクタクル〉と呼ばれるスタイルをつくりあげ，詩人･小説家ガブリエル･ダンヌンツィオが製作に参加した《カビリア》(1914)は，雄大な自然と歴史的建造物を背景にしたロケーションと移動車による移動撮影によって映画的空間を拡大し，〈歴史スペクタクル〉の頂点を示した。原始的で幼稚な〈もの言うフィルムsprechender Film〉などもつくられていたドイツでも，フランスの〈文芸映画〉にならって文学作品の映画化が始まり，シラーの《ドン･カルロス》(1910)，シュニッツラーの《恋愛三昧》(1912)，ハンス･ハインツ･エーウェルスの《プラーグの大学生》(1913)，ワーグナーの楽劇《タンホイザー》(1914)などが映画化され，〈活動〉(キーントップ)から〈映画〉(キーノ)へ，さらに〈映画芸術〉(フィルムクンスト)への道をたどり始めた。…

【スペクタクル映画】より

…巨費を投じ，けんらん豪華なセットを組み，エキストラを動員し，スケールの大きさを強調した超大作のことだが，ハリウッドではセックス，暴力，聖書，スペクタクルが〈病める映画産業の万能薬〉といわれるように，もっとも興行価値の高い映画ジャンルとみなされ，映画史的にももっとも古い伝統をもっている。その原点が映画草創期の1900年代からつくられはじめたイタリアの古代史劇で，当時ローマ史を背景とした文学作品があいついで映画化され，その多くは動きの少ない絵巻物的作品に終わったが，5000人のエキストラとほんもののライオン30頭を登場させてローマの炎上やキリスト教徒の殺戮（さつりく）を描いた6000フィート，9巻，2時間の《クオ･バディス》(1912)と，ローマとカルタゴの第2次ポエニ戦争を題材とした12巻(オリジナル版は4時間を超えたといわれる)の《カビリア》(1914)はスペクタクル映画の草分けとなった。とくに後者はイタリアのサイレント映画の頂点を示す作品であり，著名な詩人，小説家，劇作家，軍人であったダンヌンツィオが荘重華麗な文学的字幕を書いたことでも知られ，スペイン出身の名カメラマン，セグンド･デ･チョーモン(1871‐1929)の移動撮影や，のちにハリウッドで〈レンブラント･ライティング〉と名づけられた人工光線による下からの仰角(あおり)ぎみの照明といった革新的な技術が各国の映画に大きな影響をあたえ，アメリカのD.W.グリフィスは《カビリア》のプリントを1本手にいれてつぶさに研究し，アメリカ最初のスペクタクル映画《国民の創生》(1915)と《イントレランス》(1916)をつくった。…

※「《カビリア》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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