| SilentHollywood.com |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| ~Napoleon~ 1927 |
| ~Plot Synopsis~ |
The chef d'ouevre of legendary French filmmaker Abel Gance, the 235-minute Napoleon was
supposed to have been the first installment in a multipart film study of the French military hero. Each of
the film's set pieces is treated like a movie in itself: the opening pillow fights and snowball battles,
staged while Napoleon is still a schoolboy (played by Russian youth Vladimir Roudenko), are
choreographed on a scale worthy of D.W. Griffith. The plot proper begins with Napoleon's adult years.
From home island of Corsica, Lt. Napoleon (played as an adult by Albert Dieudonné, and old friend of
Gance's) decides to side with the Republic during the French Revolution. He quickly proves his mettle
in a preliminary skirmish with the British. Offered the office of commander of Paris, Napoleon
declines: he does not subscribe to Reign of Terror, nor does he believe in doing battle against
Frenchmen. He is thrown in prison, where he meets his wife-to-be Josephine; thanks to a series of
governmental upheavals, both are set free. For the next few years, France's bureaucratic bean-
counters and pencil-pushers constantly thwart Napoleon's dreams of glory. The film's climax is
Napoleon's rallying of the dispirited French troops and his subsequent advance into Italy.
Beyond its patriotic content, Napoléon was largely designed as a showcase for the revolutionary
"Polyvision" process. Simply put, Polyvision utilized multiple images for dramatic effect. Sometimes
this was accomplished in a fragmentary manner similar to the multiscreen techniques utilized in such
1960s films as The Thomas Crown Affair and The Boston Strangler. Polyvision could also manifest
itself into a Cinerama-like "triptych": three screens, side by side, sometimes offering a panorama,
sometimes displaying three separate but thematically linked images. Napoleon's spectacular triptych
finale was the crowning touch to the remarkable camera pyrotechnics seen throughout the film; Gance
hated static scenes, so he mounted his camera on pendulums, horses, gyroscopes, et al., masterfully
placing the spectator in the thick of the action. The film also boasts some of the silent era's best color
tinting, with special emphasis on the red, white, and blue of the French flag. Except for limited
European showings, Napoleon has not been displayed in its original form since its 1927 Paris
premiere. At least 19 different versions of the film exist, some horribly mutilated (cut from 17 reels to
eight) and scrambled, others haphazardly reedited by Gance himself. Filmmaker/historian Kevin
Brownlow's 1968 book The Parade's Gone By renewed public interest in Gance's lost masterpiece,
sparking a 15-year campaign to restore Napoleon, spearheaded by Brownlow and American director
Francis Ford Coppola. The resultant restoration job is not perfect -- the triptych scenes had to be
reduced to postage-stamp size because no existing screen can accommodate them -- but this
Napoleon is probably the closest we'll get ever get to the original. The music for the restored version
was composed by Francis Ford Coppola's father Carmine Coppola.
Written by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com
Update: March 2012
Obsession – it can lead to one’s undoing or bring the world a great treasure. Oscar-winning filmmaker,
historian and archivist Kevin Brownlow is screening the object of his obsession for over the last thirty
years, the 1927 silent film by French filmmaker Abel Gance. It seems only fitting that the most
acclaimed movie at the Oscars in February went to a mostly silent film The Artist, a film written and
directed by a French filmmaker and that droves of cinephiles are now making the trip to Oakland to
grasp their only chance of seeing Gance’s film Napoleon.
Napoleon is a five and a half hour epic film that explodes into a Cinerama-style viewing for the last half
hour of the film. Take note that this film predates the popularity of Cinerama in the 1950’s, but once
viewing this amazingly breathtaking film, it’s evident that this film predates many known filmmaking
techniques attributed to other filmmakers that came after Abel Gance.
The film chronicles the life and rise of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon’s rise to power came
about the same time as France was embroiled in a nasty revolution and telling such a detailed story
without the use of dialogue is just one incredible feat that Gance’s film excels at. The start of the film
is told of Napoleon’s youth and the screen is a splendor of images that imaginatively enhance the
story of Napoleon. The film includes Napoleon’s rise among the military, his imprisonment and near
execution, his love affair and marriage to Josephine and climaxes at his first military victory in Italy.
The film does not glorify Napoleon’s conquests as much as simply exploring all sides of a very
complex man.
Napoleon screened last Friday and Saturday and will conclude this coming weekend. This masterful
film was restored over a long process of finding pieces of film and restoring it to an almost complete
film by one of film’s most applauded member Kevin Brownlow. The film is being shown with a full
orchestra, which is led by conductor Carl Davis. Mr. Davis wrote the stirring five and a half hour score
and is itself a mere wonderment to behold.
It can be said that some of the world’s most amazing wonders were once the object of someone’s
obsession. For this masterful film of stunning imagery we have to thank Abel Gance for dreaming up
such a stirring film and Kevin Brownlow for making sure that we now have a chance to see the
visionary genius of another silent filmmaker from France.
Written by Kay Shackleton
supposed to have been the first installment in a multipart film study of the French military hero. Each of
the film's set pieces is treated like a movie in itself: the opening pillow fights and snowball battles,
staged while Napoleon is still a schoolboy (played by Russian youth Vladimir Roudenko), are
choreographed on a scale worthy of D.W. Griffith. The plot proper begins with Napoleon's adult years.
From home island of Corsica, Lt. Napoleon (played as an adult by Albert Dieudonné, and old friend of
Gance's) decides to side with the Republic during the French Revolution. He quickly proves his mettle
in a preliminary skirmish with the British. Offered the office of commander of Paris, Napoleon
declines: he does not subscribe to Reign of Terror, nor does he believe in doing battle against
Frenchmen. He is thrown in prison, where he meets his wife-to-be Josephine; thanks to a series of
governmental upheavals, both are set free. For the next few years, France's bureaucratic bean-
counters and pencil-pushers constantly thwart Napoleon's dreams of glory. The film's climax is
Napoleon's rallying of the dispirited French troops and his subsequent advance into Italy.
Beyond its patriotic content, Napoléon was largely designed as a showcase for the revolutionary
"Polyvision" process. Simply put, Polyvision utilized multiple images for dramatic effect. Sometimes
this was accomplished in a fragmentary manner similar to the multiscreen techniques utilized in such
1960s films as The Thomas Crown Affair and The Boston Strangler. Polyvision could also manifest
itself into a Cinerama-like "triptych": three screens, side by side, sometimes offering a panorama,
sometimes displaying three separate but thematically linked images. Napoleon's spectacular triptych
finale was the crowning touch to the remarkable camera pyrotechnics seen throughout the film; Gance
hated static scenes, so he mounted his camera on pendulums, horses, gyroscopes, et al., masterfully
placing the spectator in the thick of the action. The film also boasts some of the silent era's best color
tinting, with special emphasis on the red, white, and blue of the French flag. Except for limited
European showings, Napoleon has not been displayed in its original form since its 1927 Paris
premiere. At least 19 different versions of the film exist, some horribly mutilated (cut from 17 reels to
eight) and scrambled, others haphazardly reedited by Gance himself. Filmmaker/historian Kevin
Brownlow's 1968 book The Parade's Gone By renewed public interest in Gance's lost masterpiece,
sparking a 15-year campaign to restore Napoleon, spearheaded by Brownlow and American director
Francis Ford Coppola. The resultant restoration job is not perfect -- the triptych scenes had to be
reduced to postage-stamp size because no existing screen can accommodate them -- but this
Napoleon is probably the closest we'll get ever get to the original. The music for the restored version
was composed by Francis Ford Coppola's father Carmine Coppola.
Written by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com
Update: March 2012
Obsession – it can lead to one’s undoing or bring the world a great treasure. Oscar-winning filmmaker,
historian and archivist Kevin Brownlow is screening the object of his obsession for over the last thirty
years, the 1927 silent film by French filmmaker Abel Gance. It seems only fitting that the most
acclaimed movie at the Oscars in February went to a mostly silent film The Artist, a film written and
directed by a French filmmaker and that droves of cinephiles are now making the trip to Oakland to
grasp their only chance of seeing Gance’s film Napoleon.
Napoleon is a five and a half hour epic film that explodes into a Cinerama-style viewing for the last half
hour of the film. Take note that this film predates the popularity of Cinerama in the 1950’s, but once
viewing this amazingly breathtaking film, it’s evident that this film predates many known filmmaking
techniques attributed to other filmmakers that came after Abel Gance.
The film chronicles the life and rise of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon’s rise to power came
about the same time as France was embroiled in a nasty revolution and telling such a detailed story
without the use of dialogue is just one incredible feat that Gance’s film excels at. The start of the film
is told of Napoleon’s youth and the screen is a splendor of images that imaginatively enhance the
story of Napoleon. The film includes Napoleon’s rise among the military, his imprisonment and near
execution, his love affair and marriage to Josephine and climaxes at his first military victory in Italy.
The film does not glorify Napoleon’s conquests as much as simply exploring all sides of a very
complex man.
Napoleon screened last Friday and Saturday and will conclude this coming weekend. This masterful
film was restored over a long process of finding pieces of film and restoring it to an almost complete
film by one of film’s most applauded member Kevin Brownlow. The film is being shown with a full
orchestra, which is led by conductor Carl Davis. Mr. Davis wrote the stirring five and a half hour score
and is itself a mere wonderment to behold.
It can be said that some of the world’s most amazing wonders were once the object of someone’s
obsession. For this masterful film of stunning imagery we have to thank Abel Gance for dreaming up
such a stirring film and Kevin Brownlow for making sure that we now have a chance to see the
visionary genius of another silent filmmaker from France.
Written by Kay Shackleton
| Written & Directed by: Abel Gance |
| ~Cast~ Albert Dieudonné ...Napoléon Bonaparte Vladimir Roudenko ...Napoléon Bonaparte enfant Edmond Van Daële ...Maximilien Robespierre Alexandre Koubitzky ...Danton Antonin Artaud ...Marat Abel Gance ...Louis Saint-Just Gina Manès ...Joséphine de Beauharnais Suzanne Bianchetti ...Marie-Antoinette Marguerite Gance ...Charlotte Corday Yvette Dieudonné ...Élisa Bonaparte Philippe Hériat ...Antonio Salicetti Pierre Batcheff ...Le général Lazare Hoche Eugénie Buffet ...Laetizia Bonaparte Acho Chakatouny ...Pozzo di Borgo Nicolas Koline ...Tristan Fleuri Max Maxudian ...Barras (as Maxudian) Annabella ...Violine Fleuri et Désirée Clary Henri Baudin ...Santo-Ricci, le berger Alex Bernard ...Dugommier / Collet d'Herbois (as Alexandre Bernard) Roger Blum ...Talma Daniel Buiret ...Augustin Robespierre Georges Cahuzac ...Le vicomte de Beauharnais Adrien Caillard ...Thomas Gasparin Pierre de Canolle ...Le capitaine Auguste Marmont Carrie Carvalho ...La voyante (as Mlle. Carvalho) Sylvio Cavicchia ...Lucien Bonaparte Léon Courtois ...Le général Carteaux Gilbert Dacheux ...Le général du Teil Damia ...La Marseillaise Pierre Danis ...Colonel Muiron W. Percy Day ...Amiral Hood Raoul De Ansorena ...Capitaine Desaix Boris de Fast ...L'Oeil-Vert (as Boris Fastovich) Favière ...Fouché Serge Freddy-Karl ...Marcellin Fleuri Jean Gaudrey ...Jean-Lambert Tallien Simone Genevois ...Pauline Bonaparte Georges Hénin ...Eugène de Beauharnais Jean Henry ...Sergent Andoche Junot Henry Krauss ...Moustache Harry Krimer ...Rouget de l'Isle Georges Lampin ...Joseph Bonaparte Alexandre Mathillon ...Le général Scherer (as Mathillon) Genica Missirio ...Le capitaine Joachim Murat Francine Mussey ...Lucille Desmoulins Jeanne Pen ...Hortense de Beauharnais Roblin ...Picot de Peccaduc Jack Rye ...Le général O'Hara Louis Sance ...Louis XVI Maurice Schutz ...Pasquale Paoli Andrée Standart ...Thérèse Tallien (as Andrée Standard) Suzy Vernon ...Madame Récamier (as Susie Vernon) Petit Vidal ...Philippeaux Robert Vidalin ...Camille Desmoulins Louis Vonelly ...Couthon Jean d'Yd ...La Bussière René Jeanne ...Le professeur de Briancon Lomon ...Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles Florence Talma ...Louise Gely Raoul Villiers ...Boissy d'Anglas / stabsofficer Michel Zahar ...Monk Alberti ...Jean-Jacques Rousseau / Staff officer in Toulon (uncredited) Paul Amiot ...Antoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville dit Fouquier-Tinville (uncredited) François Angely ...General Henriot (uncredited) Robert Arnoux ...Member of Convention (uncredited) Jean Arroy ...Sans-culotte at Toulon / Member of Convention (uncredited) Henri Beaulieu ...Beaumarchais (uncredited) Blanche Beaume ...Servant of Marat (uncredited) Benedict ...Cromwell (uncredited) Armand Bernard ...Jean-Jean (uncredited) Camille Beuve ...Giljotineraren (uncredited) Blin ...Calmelet (uncredited) Henry Bonvallet ...General Menou (uncredited) Boudréau ...La Fayette (uncredited) Albert Bras ...Monge (uncredited) André Cerf ...Soldier (uncredited) Roger Chantal ...Jérôme Bonaparte (uncredited) Florence Dalma ...M-me Danton (uncredited) Mr. de Bourgival ...Monk (uncredited) Jean Demerçay ...Captain Suchet (uncredited) Jean Dréville ...Bit role (uncredited) Emile Engeldorff ...Laurent-Basse (uncredited) Pierre Ferval ...Monk (uncredited) Jean Fleury ...Carnot (uncredited) Floquet ... Member of Convention (uncredited) Francis ...Soldier (uncredited) Edmond T. Gréville ...Monk (uncredited) Felix Guglielmi ...Corsican shepherd (uncredited) Robert Guilbert ...Captain le Marois (uncredited) Joë Hamman ...Bågskytt (uncredited) Fabien Haziza ...Member of Bonaparte family (uncredited) Jean Jacquinet ...Montesquiou (uncredited) Léon Larive ...(uncredited) Geo Leclercq ...Dutheil (uncredited) Raphaël Lievin ...Fabre d'Englantine (uncredited) Pierrette Lugand ...Caroline Bonaparte (uncredited) G.A. Martin ...François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (uncredited) Noëlle Mato ...M-me Marat (uncredited) Ernest Maupain ...Washington (uncredited) Daniel Mendaille ... Fréron (uncredited) Grogoire Metchikoff ...General Pierre François Charles Augereau (uncredited) Jean Mitry ...Bit role (uncredited) Laurent Morléas ...Stabsofficer (uncredited) Médus ...Bit role (uncredited) Maggy Pironet ...Bit role (uncredited) Marcel Pérès ... Monk (uncredited) Fernand Rauzéna ...Louis Bonaparte (uncredited) Joaquim Renez ...Favière (uncredited) Émilien Richard ...Brissot (uncredited) Philippe Rolla ...General André Masséna (uncredited) Régnier ...Diderot (uncredited) Saint-Allier ...David the Painter (uncredited) André Scherer ...Volontaire de l'Ardèche (uncredited) Georgette Sorelle ...Madame Élisabeth (uncredited) Thomassin ...Madame Royale (uncredited) Vaslin ...Franklin (uncredited) Jean Wells ...Bit role (uncredited) |
| ~Remaining Credits~ Production Companies: Ciné France Films Films Abel Gance Isepa-Wengeroff Film GmbH Pathé Consortium Cinéma Société générale des films Distribution Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1929) (USA) (theatrical) UFA-Filmverleih GmbH (1927) (Germany) (theatrical) Original Music: Arthur Honegger Cinematography by: Léonce-Henri Burel, Jules Kruger, Joseph-Louis Mundwiller & Nikolai Toporkoff Film Editing by: Abel Gance Casting by: Louis Osmont Art Direction by: Alexandre Benois & Alexandre Lochakoff (short period) Costume Design by: Mme. Augris, Georges Charmy & Mme. Neminsky Makeup Artists: Boris de Fast & Wladimir Kwanine Production Managers: Noë Bloch, Edouard De Bersaucourt & Louis Osmont Assistant Director: Henri Andréani Trainee Assistant Director: Jean Arroy Assistant Director: Pierre Danis Assistant Director: Henry Krauss Assistant Director: Anatole Litvak Trainee Assistant Director: Jean Mitry Assistant Director: Mario Nalpas Trainee Assistant Director: Sacher Purnal Assistant Director: Viktor Tourjansky Assistant Director: Alexandre Volkoff Art Decorator: Pierre Schild, Georges Jacouty & Eugène Lourié Assistant Art Directors: Vladimir Meingard & Serge Piménoff Special Effects by: Segundo de Chomón, Paul Minine, Edward Scholl, Eugen Schüfftan & Nicolas Wilcké Matte Painter: W. Percy Day Visual Effects Supervisor: Eugen Schüfftan Miniature Maker: Nicolas Wilcké Gaffers: Albinet, Graza & Doublon Camera Operators: Fédote Bourgasoff, Lee Planskoy, Marcel Eywinger & Paul Briquet Additional Photographers: Léonce-Henri Burel, Georges Lucas, Jean-Pierre Mundviller, Émile Pierre & Roger Hubert Assistant Camera: Rusty Geller Costumes for Josephine: Jeanne Lanvin Footwear: Galvin Assistant Editors: Marguerite Beaugé & Henriette Pinson Technical Director: Simon Feldman Production Assistants: Constantin Geftman, Grégoire Geftmann, Edmond T. Gréville, Hoden, Leonid Komerovsky, Georges Lampin, Grogoire Metchikoff, Henry Pauly, Ivan Pavloff, Andre Pironet, Rene Rufly, Michel Scripnikoff Armorer: Lemirt Script Supervisor: Simone Surdieux Runtime: 5 1/2 hours (2012 restoration) Released: April 7, 1927 |
| . |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Other Links That You Might Find Helpful to you for this film: SilentHollywood.com Discussion Group on Facebook Internet Movie Database Allmovie.com Turner Classic Movies |