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Revision as of 08:48, 29 April 2007 by Skier Dude (talk | contribs) (clean up using AWB)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1927 film| Napoléon | |
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| Directed by | Abel Gance |
| Written by | Abel Gance |
| Produced by | Abel Gance (executive in charge of production) |
| Starring | Albert Dieudonné Antonin Artaud Edmond Van Daële |
| Cinematography | Jules Kruger |
| Edited by | Abel Gance |
| Music by | Arthur Honegger |
| Distributed by | Gaumont (Europe) MGM (USA) |
| Release dates | April 7, 1927 |
| Running time | 330 min. |
| Languages | Silent film French intertitles |
Napoléon is an epic (1927) silent French film directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of the rise of Napoleon I of France.
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. 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.
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.
Primary cast
- Albert Dieudonné as Napoléon Bonaparte
- Vladimir Roudenko as Napoléon Bonaparte (child)
- Edmond Van Daële as Maximilien Robespierre
- Alexandre Koubitzky as Georges Danton
- Antonin Artaud as Jean-Paul Marat
- Abel Gance as Louis de Saint-Just
- Gina Manès as Joséphine de Beauharnais
- Suzanne Bianchetti as Marie Antoinette
- Marguerite Gance as Charlotte Corday
- Yvette Dieudonné as Élisa Bonaparte
- Philippe Hériat as Antonio Salicetti
- Annabella as Violine Fleuri (and Désirée Clary)
Restorations
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 acclaim surrounding the film's revival brought Gance belated recognition as a master director just before his death in 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.
See also
References
- Rick Jones (2004-12-04). "Napoleon - battle for the sound of silents". Times Online. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2007-01-22.