Abel Gance's groundbreaking Napoleon, 1927

Eddie
Head Librarian
Fri May 28, 2010 9:56 am

From Wiki:

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 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

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6604699654624365123
The Marseillaise

http://videodetective.com/titledetails.aspx?PublishedID=1526
Napoleon trailer.

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

pinhedz

The last time I remember it being shown, some of the old silent film pianists and organists were still alive, and one named Arthur Kleiner was brought out of retirement for the event.

He had to play 9 hours of very elaborate theater organ scores, constantly changing the instrument settings and reacting to the ques in the film.


Hosni
Sat May 29, 2010 5:01 am

Francis Coppola re-released it at some point with some tinkering. I'll see it when it comes out in 3D.

Could be the Spruce Goose of the movies. I seem to remember the film historian Kevin Brownlow playing a part in its restoration, around 30 years ago. Yup:

http://www.silentera.com/info/napoleonRestoration.html