Nights of Cabiria

The BD from a 4K restoration from an interpositive is about a good as one can expect for this film in 1080p.Proper film look, usually quite sharp (some shots are worse but there are few) and with proper contrast and grayscale. No artifacts from unwanted digital tinkering. Sound is fine. Recommended!

Fantastic blu ray transfer and restoration of one of the greatest films of all time. Long overdue but I'm more than happy to call it the definitive edition... pretty sure it's the best this film will ever look. What took them so long?

Another great release by Studio Canal

Studio Canal has done a brilliant job releasing a 4k restoration of the film using fine grain master positives and duplicate printing negatives. This is a long-awaited bluray release of this classic by Fellini. It is presented in the original film aspect ratio which makes the film a pleasure to watch with new improved English subtitles and a clear soundtrack. Nino Rota's music has never sounded so dreamy!

This is a review of the Optimum DVD version, but I'm posting it here because I want to give this film the warmest possible recommendation in what promises to be an excellent Blu-ray presentation. It represents Fellini at his very best and should be on all film-lovers' shelves.**************************************************************Nights of Cabiria (1957) was the last in what Federico Fellini expert Peter Bondanella calls his `Trilogy of salvation or grace', the other two being La Strada (1954) and Il Bidone (1955). In all three films characters undergo a huge cyclical journey through life where they end up where they started having learned something important on the way. Fellini was ambivalent about organized religion and got into hot water with the Catholic Church on more than one occasion, but the use of the word 'salvation' or `grace' implies some kind of religious program and Fellini is on record as saying Jesus Christ was "the greatest person in the history of the human race" and that "he continues to live on in anyone who sacrifices himself for his neighbor." Indeed he saw all his early films turn on this idea, especially the ones involving his wife Giulietta Masina - "a little creature who wants to love and who lives for love." Please note this is a thematic review and so contains spoilers.Nights of Cabiria is a transitional work in Fellini's career. It features another picaresque tale of a character who goes on a cyclical emotional journey, but it also looks forward, anticipating much of La dolce vita (1959) in its party scenes and its visit to a religious sanctuary. We briefly met the Roman prostitute Cabiria towards the end of The White Sheik (1952). Fellini combines her with another prostitute whom he met while shooting Il Bidone to make the Cabiria of this film. Cabiria is no clichéd `tart with a heart' victim. Rather, she is a tough cookie who owns her own house, has a bank account and is fiercely proud of her independence. Unfortunately she has a soft heart and her weakness for love leaves her wide open for exploitation. But we know as hard as she falls, she will always be able to pick herself up and go again. Cabiria is a much more complex character than Gelsomina (and for me even more sympathetic), but Giulietta Masina captures all her contradictions in a wonderfully subtle performance, alternately vivacious and hard-nosed and then vulnerable and adorable to make for one of Fellini's most memorable characters. It is no exaggeration to say that Masina makes this film.In its narrative structure the film carries on Fellini's obsession in this trilogy with the number 5. Remember Zampanò repeated his ridiculous strong man act 5 times in La Strada and Augusto performs 5 swindles in the course of Il Bidone. Nights of Cabiria consists of 5 episodes taken out of Cabiria's life which are separated by linking passages of her at her station at the Passeggiata Archeologica in a poor area of Rome. Each episode starts with the promise of hope for escape to a new respectable life, but each one ends in bitter disappointment. The first sees Cabiria in love running by the Tiber with her boyfriend Giorgio in a clichéd scene of romance, only to have her purse snatched and then pushed into the river by him. A non-swimmer, she almost drowns. The second sees her picked up by a famous movie star (Amedeo Nazzari) outside the Kit Kat Club. She's taken to the Piccadilly Club where we are treated to an exotic echt-La dolce vita floor show before being taken back to the actor's posh casa. Preparing herself for a night of sexual luxuriance, her hopes are dashed by the arrival of the actor's girlfriend and she has to listen to them fornicate all night long from her hiding place inside the bathroom. She gets paid the following morning, but her pride has been wounded, emphasized by her gawky Chaplin-esque dress and her cheap umbrella contrasting with the opulence of the actor's milieu.The third episode combines two ways that charity can alleviate and perhaps lift poor people out of their deprivation. The Catholic Church didn't like the first way featuring a `man with a sack' journeying around rough areas of Rome dispensing gifts of clothes and food to the needy. Cabiria is fascinated by the man's unexplained generosity and follows him, eventually meeting an old prostitute colleague who is now living in a cave. This could also be Cabiria's fate if she doesn't change her life. Cabiria is driven back to the city center and wants to know the man more, but her shame prevents her. This is quickly followed by a trip to the Divino Amore, a popular sanctuary on Via Ardeatina where it's said the Virgin Mary saved a man from a pack of wild dogs in the 14th century. Cabiria is there together with a group of prostitute colleagues and the crippled father of one of the pimps. They have all come hoping for salvation and a hand-out. Cabiria is at first cynical, but then gets drawn in and is moved by the religious ceremony. The crippled father is sure he has been cured and asks to be released by his helpers, to which he falls flat on his face. Part one of the film ends here. In Italy there would have been an interval and one reason why the Catholic Church had the `man with a sack' sequence removed is that the successful lay charity is contrasted strongly with the `failure' of the charity administered by the Church. In terms of the film however, Cabiria has her hopes raised only to see them dashed again and as she watches a procession of priests walk off she asks them sarcastically if they are looking for snails.The fourth episode sees Cabiria take in a trademark-Fellini variety show wherein she is put under hypnosis by a magician and reveals unknowingly the vulnerable recesses of her heart - that she wants to marry someone named `Oscar'. Unfortunately for her she also reveals she owns a house and has a bank account. Not knowing what she has said, she is embarrassed when freed of her trance by the laughter of all. Again she is kicked in the teeth. The fifth and last episode is the longest and starts immediately after she leaves the show. A figment from Cabiria's psyche calling himself `Oscar' (François Périer) introduces himself and begins a long courtship. By now we know the structure of the narrative and simply wait for the inevitable to happen. Eventually Cabiria sells up her house and takes all her money with her to live with Oscar in a village where she has been promised work as a sales clerk. Just like Giorgio at the film's outset Oscar wears sunglasses (Fellini code for untrustworthiness), escorts her to a country place by water and then snatches her bag with everything she has in the entire world. The film has come full circle and Cabiria is broken. And yet all is not lost. In one of Fellini's most famous scenes she is magically caught up in a group of young people dancing and singing down a road. The music is a paraphrase of the music earlier heard at the Divino Amore and as she smiles looking directly at the camera inviting us to join in the procession of life, we know that life goes on and Cabiria will live again. Redemption is received and the procession moves on.As with La Strada it may seem that religion plays a large part in this film's structure. The visit to the Divino Amore is exceptionally moving and is more than just a dry run for a similar (much more lavish) scene in La dolce vita. Cabiria's need to believe is firmly emphasized and the scene dominates the film, especially with the music returning at the end and the later scene on the road where she meets a priest who urges her to marry and raise children, to live `in God's grace'. She later goes to the monastery to give her confession (such is the law in Italy before anyone marries) and no doubt her search for a way to live `in God's grace' is a possible reading of the film. But also as with La Strada, to reduce the film to just one meaning denies its richness. In any case certain things speak against a Christian interpretation. The contrast between lay charity and Church charity is surely an attack on organized religion (the prior scene has only recently been put back in to the film) and Cabiria's pithy rejoinders to the priests (made very realistic by an Italian script spiced up by street argot researched by Pier Paolo Pasolini for this film) tells its own story. Also, the `redemption' she receives at the end is as uncertain as that received by both Zampanò and Augusto. In this trilogy the lessons the main characters learn express the secular view of people simply surviving life, of human existence transcending all obstacles with the over-riding theme of love dominating everything. Of course, this love could be both sacred and secular. The name of the sanctuary Cabiria visits (Divino Amore) gives this main theme away and Cabiria's capacity for love constitutes both her main strength and her biggest weakness. Such is the paradox at the center of life and Fellini gives it extraordinary clarity through the incredibly sensitive performance of his wife. This film is less celebrated than La Strada despite picking up awards in Venice and in Hollywood, but it is undoubtedly on the same level. Another Fellini masterpiece, it's one of his 3 or 4 greatest achievements.

TWICE I received faulty blu-rays that WILL NOT PLAY PICTURE beyond the set-up menu. It will play the extras trailer pix AND audio fine however, WHY? Even if you choose a chapter of the movie in the set-up menu, it will PLAY ONLY THE AUDIO over the menu title card while only the subtitles appear below. I've HAD IT! Won't replace a faulty disc three times, I'm DONE with this! No more StudioCanal GARBAGE for me, EVER! However, the "La Strada" BD I ordered plays PERFECTLY! Have they NO quality control at StudioCanal? I'd give the wonderful film 5 STARS, but this is about product and this product is GARBAGE! Not Amazon's fault, however, and they've been very good about it, all I must say.

very disappointing picture quality. what a shame. not surprising from studiocanal.

One of the greatest films ever made. Fellini is the dude.

Looks brand new

The DVD is good quality. The subtitles are clearly visible and it plays well on the computer if you download VLC program (it is free)

Excellent film de Fellini : pour les cinéphiles.

The casing of the blu ray came with a giant hole in the top left corner. Not happy

A classic movie by one of the all time great directors a must have for my collection