Napoléon (1927)
Country: FR
Technical: bw 350m approx silent
Director: Abel Gance
Cast: Albert Dieudonné, Antonin Artaud, Pierre Batcheff
Synopsis:
The childhood and early career of Bonaparte, up to his triumphant entry into Italy.
Review:
The Thames Silents restoration, later extended with help from the CNC in France, became a benchmark in live cinema presentations at the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, thanks to Kevin Brownlow's scholarly persistence and Carl Davis's superlative score. But one mustn't forget the energy of Gance himself, slavishly filling in every conceivable detail around the key events, from unhappy schooldays to a narrow escape from his pursuers on Corsica, to the siege of Toulon and his love affair with Josephine Beauharnais. At times the narrative doesn't quite work, as in Napoleon's putting down of the reactionary uprising, which is very sketchy, and at others it is downright plodding, but these are small drawbacks. For its length, ambition, and sheer visionary sweep, this must be one of the most richly cinematic - and technically experimental - achievements of the silent era.
Country: FR
Technical: bw 350m approx silent
Director: Abel Gance
Cast: Albert Dieudonné, Antonin Artaud, Pierre Batcheff
Synopsis:
The childhood and early career of Bonaparte, up to his triumphant entry into Italy.
Review:
The Thames Silents restoration, later extended with help from the CNC in France, became a benchmark in live cinema presentations at the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, thanks to Kevin Brownlow's scholarly persistence and Carl Davis's superlative score. But one mustn't forget the energy of Gance himself, slavishly filling in every conceivable detail around the key events, from unhappy schooldays to a narrow escape from his pursuers on Corsica, to the siege of Toulon and his love affair with Josephine Beauharnais. At times the narrative doesn't quite work, as in Napoleon's putting down of the reactionary uprising, which is very sketchy, and at others it is downright plodding, but these are small drawbacks. For its length, ambition, and sheer visionary sweep, this must be one of the most richly cinematic - and technically experimental - achievements of the silent era.
Country: FR
Technical: bw 350m approx silent
Director: Abel Gance
Cast: Albert Dieudonné, Antonin Artaud, Pierre Batcheff
Synopsis:
The childhood and early career of Bonaparte, up to his triumphant entry into Italy.
Review:
The Thames Silents restoration, later extended with help from the CNC in France, became a benchmark in live cinema presentations at the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, thanks to Kevin Brownlow's scholarly persistence and Carl Davis's superlative score. But one mustn't forget the energy of Gance himself, slavishly filling in every conceivable detail around the key events, from unhappy schooldays to a narrow escape from his pursuers on Corsica, to the siege of Toulon and his love affair with Josephine Beauharnais. At times the narrative doesn't quite work, as in Napoleon's putting down of the reactionary uprising, which is very sketchy, and at others it is downright plodding, but these are small drawbacks. For its length, ambition, and sheer visionary sweep, this must be one of the most richly cinematic - and technically experimental - achievements of the silent era.