One of the pioneering epics produced by the Italian film industry in the
days before World War I, this remains memorable largely for the
immensity and grandeur of its sets. Painstakingly explicit
inter-titles (by famed poet Gabriele D'Annunzio) explain at great
length and in much purple prose the simplistic actions performed on
screen, vastly slowing the pace; but the real reason this seems so much
more archaic than Griffith's films is Pastrone's failure to grasp the
role of editing in creating narrative drive. Therefore, the film
unfolds as a series of static tableaux; only in one scene (a ritual
sacrifice) does Pastrone use fades, cuts and camera angles to further
the suspense.
