36. Napoleon (1927)

Directed By Abel Gance

Synopsis

Napoleon takes a snowball with a rock in it in the head. Gets a bit miffed. Conquers Italy.

Review

This film was originally 8 hours long... the version I've seen is the 1980 Coppola 4 hour version, and there was a new restoration in 2000 making it over 5 hours. You can't get this one on DVD due to Francis Ford's litigiousness. If that wasn't enough it was supposed to be the first of 6 films on Napoleon! This one finishes with the triumphant Italian campaign, 5 more films would follow Napoleon in an exhaustive cinematic tour de force.

This said, if the other 5 films existed I would probably watch them. This is a frankly impressive film, no one is as good in camera movement, not even Murnau and only Eisenstein approaches Abel Gance in editing. Of course the plot is simplistic and the characters are cardboard, it is a nationalistic film after all. The technical brilliance is such, however, that you can get through all that easily. One of the most original tricks is seen towards the end where Gance has split the action between 3 different screens which were actually shown with 3 projectors in order to create a panoramic feeling.

Gance keeps punching you in the face with powerful imagery, and he manages to create a riveting film for the whole of 4 hours. You are never really bored, which happens with some Eisenstein stuff, where you watch it for the next display of editing brilliance. Gance is able to sustain the story between the moments of genius and is a better man for it.

At times the trypthic effect is not even showing a panoramic scene, but is simply bombarding you with different ideas and imagery in order to create an emotionally overwhelming feeling. I can only imagine what this looked like in an actual cinema. The effect is very lost on a regular TV set like the one I used. It is still impressive. So, shit characters, simplistic ideology and brilliant technical prowess. The last one is so great that it eclipses the others, so do make sure to see it. If ever your local Multiplex shows it be sure to attend. You can buy it at Amazon US or where I got mine on DVD from eBay (there is a Spanish DVD edition, if you turn off the Spanish subtitles you get an English edition on the DVD, well worth it).

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film historian Kevin Brownlow supervised the reconstruction of the film in 1980 including the Polyvision scenes. This 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 event brought Gance out of obscurity. 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.