Napoleon

By Abel Gance

This book contains the original text of Abel Gance's Napoleon, the 1927 film which was subsequently lost and reconstructed by Kevin Brownlow 50 years later. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571140653
• ISBN13: 9780571140657
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A genuine classic

Remarkable, engrossing epic that was something of a life work for its inspired director Abel Gance. Re-issued after restoration, with much fanfare, in 1981. The story deals with Napleon?s youth and early successes, rather than his Empire days. Indeed the making of this movie was an epic seemingly as long and inspired as its subject. Among a torrent of innovations, Gance had cameras mounted on moving objects such as firing cannon; shot a segment in color and another in a ?3-D? process similar to those popular in the 1950s (but in 1927!) but decided that he didn?t like these effects after all; and pioneered wide-screen film, with three adjacent cameras making contiguous images, in outdoor segments seen in the later parts of the 1981 release. The hell of it is, this film is not about film technique but rather about the story and the actors. Gance himself appears as the revolutionary leader Louis Antoine de Saint-Just; Albert Dieudonné in the title role is possessed by his character, whom he well mimics in appearance; and you won?t forget Robespierre, peering at the world and his colleagues through his sinister dark glasses. Although released on black-and-white film, many scenes are tinted (in, naturally, the Tricolor blue-white-and-red), with some of the three-camera wide-screen segments underscoring this point via simultaneous Tricolor tinting.Though I don?t know this for certain, it would not surprise me if this movie showed up on top-10 lists of many serious film buffs. That is, film buffs who have actually seen a few films besides the latest Tom Cruise, and therefore have basis from which to comment. (...). Film buffs long familiar with major films like Intolerance and Battleship Potemkin and The Red Balloon and the Warners 1940s _films noirs_ and Bondarchuk?s War and Peace (the largest feature film ever made, by several measures) and La Ronde and 8 ½ and Shadows of [Our] Forgotten Ancestors and Witness for the Prosecution and All Quiet on the Western Front and Olympia and Grand Illusion and the Powell-Pressburger spy dramas and Green for Danger and Mon Oncle and A Man for All Seasons and It Happened One Night, that sort of thing.

Vive la France!

One of the really great screen gems, the 1927 silent Napoleon is both stunning and quite memorable. Made between the wars in war torn France, it is heavily patriotic much in the same vein as Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky...drawing from past events and characters to encourage nationalism, which isn't always a bad thing!It portrays Napoleon as a very human yet distinct messianic figure, full of prophetic utterances, images, and even a call to enter the promised land at the end of the film! The acting ranges from very good to typical silent film fare...a bit theatrical, since the actors spent the majority of their careers on the stage in the early days of cinema. But overall, it is quite good with memorable characterizations, especially the part of Napoleon as both child and adult.The camerawork is amazing, close-ups, extreme long shots,superimpositions, hand held, on horseback, or swinging over a riotous crowd...and of course, the "polyvision".There are so many vivid images here..from the young dejected Napoleon trying to sleep on a cannon on the school attic in winter, Toulons, Napoleon asleep on the field of battle while being promoted, a sea storm worthy of most films for the next half a century and intense battle sequences. There are moments that are intensely patriotic and prophetic along with several that are genuinely comical.The score added by Carmine Coppola in the early 80's is also quite memorable. A score for a four hour silent film requires something of near Wagnerian proportions, and Coppola does well in creating a coherent score filled with French patriotism and some of the classics as well as his own inventions. The opening titles are vivid. A vigorous drum corp approaches steadily as a horn fanfare builds dramatically and with growing dissonance, building in intensity and finally blazing out in a glorious major chord....and the strings don't appear until the Napoleon theme, proud, youthful and full of optimism.This is one of the great cinematic feats of the century, as well as being one of the great restorations of all time. It is great to watch....and hear!

Impeccable and Inspiring Portrayal of Napoleon the Man

Abel Gance's Napoleon was the best film I have ever seen about Napoleon because of its realistic portrayal of this great man.Albert Dieudonne's portrayal of Napoleon was so impeccable, for a minute, I thought that Dieudonne was Napoleon. The most unforgettable scene in the whole movie, in my opinion, was Napoleon addressing his troops from high up in the mountainswith Le Chant de Depart, the stirring French revolutionary war song playing in the film's soundtrack. This scene so lifted my spirits up, I felt like enlisting in Napoleon's army and fighting for him.I am indebted to Carmine Coppola, the composer of this film's soundtrack, for introducing me for the first time some of the most beautiful and inspiring French revolutionary song tunes I've ever heard, Le Chant de Depart, Ah Ca Ira, and La Carmagnole. These melodies together with the world famous La Marseillaise greatly added authenticity to the period which this film realistically portrayed.

Mesmerizing and Unforgettable, even in Video

There are very few movies I've had to watch again immediately after a first viewing. Napoleon is one of them. I came to this movie expecting to force-sit through it. What I found was a compelling, moving, endlessly fascinating work of art, rich with emotion and humor, and surprising for the overall quality of acting. Even without the many technical effects, this would be a great film. With them, it offers a platform for a host of questions as to why so few films since this film have celebrated the possibilities of the medium so fully and gone the full length of risk-taking. If you are at all interested in the history of film, or film as medium, by all means see this video. I'm sure it can't measure up to a theatrical showing, but it's all we have unless we get lucky and a showing comes to town. The scoring is not bad for this silent, either; I found it rousing in the right places, with some good choices from symphonic works (I believe Berlioz and Beethoven) along the way.

an awesome masterpiece with futuristic effects.

I first saw the movie Napoleon in the theater and I was amazed at the effects Abel Gance was able to come up with that appear to be the way movies were to be seen today for widescreen effects. The montage at the last twenty minutes of the movie when the screen appeared regular size for a theater then the side curtains go up to make the battle scene appear lifesize and the eagle with wings spread across the screen when the montage appeared was pure genius. I would highly recommend this movie for any silent movie buff or anyone interested in Napoleon.