Everything about Napoleon Movie totally explained
Napoléon (
1927) is an epic
silent French film directed by
Abel Gance that tells the story of the rise of
Napoleon I of France.
It begins from his youth in school where he already managed a snowball fight like a military campaign, to his victory in invading Italy in 1797. Planned to be the first of six movies about Napoleon Bonaparte, it was realised after the completion of the film that the costs involved would make this impossible.
Ahead of its time in its use of handheld
cameras and editing, many scenes were hand tinted or toned. Gance had intended the final
reel of the film to be screened as a triptych via triple projection, or
Polyvision.
It was first released in a gala premiere at the
Paris Opéra in April 1927.
Napoléon had been screened in only 8 European cities when
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to the film, but after screening it intact in
London, it was cut drastically in length, and only the central panel of the widescreen sequences retained before it was put on limited release in the
United States, where it was indifferently received at a time when talkies were just starting to appear.
Primary cast
Restorations
The film historian
Kevin Brownlow conducted the reconstruction of the film in the years leading up to
1980 including the Polyvision scenes. As a boy, Brownlow had purchased two 9.5mm reels of the film from a street market. He was captivated by the cinematic boldness of short clips, and his research led to a lifelong fascination with the film and a quest to reconstruct it. His 1980 reconstruction was re-edited and released in the United States by
American Zoetrope (through
Universal Pictures) with a score by
Carmine Coppola performed live at the screenings. The restoration premiered in the United States at Radio City Music Hall in New York on January 23-25, 1981. Gance couldn't attend because of his health. At the end of the January 24 screening, a telephone was brought onstage and the audience was told that Gance was listening on the other end and wished to know what they'd thought of his film. The audience erupted in an ovation of applause and cheers that lasted several minutes. The acclaim surrounding the film's revival in January brought Gance much belated recognition as a master director before his death only 11 months later, in November 1981.
Further restoration was made by Brownlow in
1983 and again in
2000, including footage rediscovered by the
Cinémathèque Française in
Paris. Altogether, 35 minutes of reclaimed film had been added, making the total film length of the 2000 restoration five and a half hours. Also, the tinting and toning processes made by
Pathé for the original film were recreated and used in the 2000 restoration.
The film is properly screened in full restoration very rarely due to the difficult requirement of three projectors for the Polyvision section; the last screening was at the
Royal Festival Hall in
London in December
2004, and included a live orchestral score of pastiche classical music arranged and conducted by
Carl Davis. The screening itself was the subject of hotly contested legal threats from
Francis Ford Coppola via
Universal Studios to the
British Film Institute over whether or not the latter had the right to screen the film without the Coppola score. Ultimately, the film did screen for both planned days, although there are suggestions that a fight is on the horizon.
The famous French actress
Annabella (born Suzanne Georgette Charpentier) who plays the fictional character Violine in the film (personifying France in her plight, beset by enemies from within and without) attended the 1983 screenings of the film at the Barbican in London. She was introduced to the audience prior to screenings and during one of the intervals sat alongside Kevin Brownlow, signing copies of the latter's book about the history and restoration of the film.
Napoleon today
So far only Region 2 and Region 4 DVDs are available, using the largely outdated 1980 restoration, with the triptych being
letterboxed. Despite this and the rare screenings of the film, it remains popular, gathering over 2,000 votes on the Internet Movie Database.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Napoleon Movie'.
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