1960: Inherit the Wind

It is hard to stay neutral when telling the story of an actual historical case in which a science teacher in the USA's bible belt was sued for teaching evolution, and this film clearly, and perhaps a bit to forcefully, makes clear that it's not on the side of the religious zealots. Otherwise, this is a well-structured and all-around professionally done piece of political entertainment. (6.5)

1914: Cabiria (123 min.s Kino Restored Print)

It's set during the Second Punic War between Rome and Cathargo, and apart from that the intricacies of the plot are hard to follow; this probbably isn't helped by a third of the footage missing from the version I saw - anyway, at its centre are Cabiria, who gets seperated from her parents as a little girl and the impressively muscular slave Maciste. Writer-director Giovanni Pastrone, who seems a little biased in favour of the Romans, fires on all cylinders: Volcanos! Elephants! Earthquakes! Armies! Camels! Mirrors that set ships on fire! Stuff falling down! Lots of it! The film's real megalomania, however, is in the title cards, which not only sometimes introduce multiple characters and plotpoints, but also have a tendency to summarize the entire scene we're about to see: Sandra pleads with the noblemen to be released, but to no avail, followed by a three-minute scene in which Sandra pleads with the noblemen to be released, but to no avail - that kind of thing. Sorta fizzes out at the end. (6)