Maciste
About Maciste
After his brother dies, Duke Alexis takes the estate where his sister-in-law and her daughter Josephine live and pays Dr. Knauss to shut the mother in the Lonely Valley asylum. Josephine runs into a movie theater and watches Cabiria, with its strongman Maciste. She writes to him. He doubts her until he sees the duke's agent force her into a car. He finds the inn where she is held, beats the men there, and stops the duke from taking her again.
Cast & crew
More about Maciste
Silent Era credits Luigi Romano Borgnetto and Vincenzo Denizot as directors, Giovanni Pastrone as supervisor, and Agnes Fletcher Bain as the scenarist. The AFI catalog calls the American release a joint production of Itala Film of Turin and the Itala Film Company of America, shot in Europe and America, and says Pastrone directed the European section. Italy released it on 2 May 1915. Hanover Film Company handled the United States release in August 1915. Silent Era lists seven reels and 1,968 metres.
Themes
Background
Pagano had played Maciste, the strongman named by Gabriele D'Annunzio, in Pastrone's Cabiria the year before. This film puts that screen Maciste into a new story.
Preservation
Silent Era records a surviving print as a 35mm restoration positive at the Cineteca di Bologna.
Notes
- Bartolomeo Pagano plays Maciste. Clementina Gay plays Josephine, Amelia Chellini her mother, Didaco Chellini Duke Alexis, and Leone Papa Ercole.
- In the theater she watches Maciste bend prison bars in Cabiria.
- A Moving Picture World synopsis of 18 May 1918 calls the villain her uncle and has Maciste turn the gang over to the police. The AFI synopsis uses Duke Alexis and the asylum plot.
- Japan saw the film on 13 January 1917.
- Silent Era lists the next title as Maciste bersaglieri (1916).
- The Cineteca di Bologna holds a 35mm restoration positive.
Scenes
- Josephine ducks into a theater and watches Cabiria.
- Maciste fights the men at the inn where Josephine is held.
Influenced by
- Cabiria (1914)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-marvelous-maciste)
