by Allan Fish
(France 1927/1980 234m/324m) DVD4 (Australia only – 234m version)
Proud as an eagle
p/d/w Abel Gance ph Jules Kruger, Léonce-Henry Burel ed Abel Gance, Marguerite Pinson m Carl Davis/Carmine Coppola (orig.Arthur Honegger) art Alexandre Benois, J.Schildnecht, Eugène Lourié ph-spc Simon Feldman
Albert Dieudonné (Napoleon Bonaparte), Vladimir Roudenko (Napoleon as a boy), Gina Manès (Josephine), Nicolas Koline (Tristan Fleuri), Alexandre Koubitsky (Danton), Annabella (Violine), Edmond Van Daële (Robespierre), Antonin Artaud (Marat), Léon Courtois (Carteaux), Philipe Hériat (Salicetti), Pierre Batcheff (Hoche), Abel Gance (Saint-Just), Jean d’Yid (La Bussière), Marguerite Gance (Charlotte Corday),
There are two great miracles to take into account when examining Abel Gance’s 1927 masterpiece; firstly that it was made in the first place and secondly that it has survived to universal critical approval. The original version, which clocked in at six hours, is long lost, and even Kevin Brownlow’s 324m print with Carl Davis’ music has been unseen since Channel 4 last showed it to commemorate the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989 (and was minus the final widescreen Triptych that still amazes to this day). The only version generally available is the Coppolas under four hour print, but those who retain copies of the Brownlow restoration from TV know the real power.
The story essentially covers Napoleon’s formative years – from his schooldays at Brienne in 1781, through to the Italian campaigns in the late 1790s – but right from the first shots in the snow at Brienne as Napoleon plays at snow battles with his school friends and enemies, one is not only hooked but aware of cinema history being made. Here was a truly revolutionary film about the Revolution, and nearly eighty years on, one can safely say that there has never been a film like it. Gance lets his camera dance and move and almost go crazy in a way few have tried since, let alone succeeded; he uses multiple exposure, quick fire editing to out-do Eisenstein, split-screen (not only in two, but three and even at one point nine!!!). Not to mention the innovations such as placing cameras in huge pendulum devices to simulate the rough sea (corresponding to “the raging whirlpool of the Reign of Terror” in the film) and handheld camera for crowd and party sequences. It’s a symphony of experimentation that still influences today – the escape from Corsica paid homage by Peter Jackson (think Black Riders, Liv Tyler and waves).
Though it doesn’t make good viewing historically speaking, brushing very cosily over Napoleon’s essential imperialistic egotism and making him out to be a superman and his foes as fools, liars and cowards, both that and a certain sentimentality in the romance with Josephine are overcome not just by Gance’s visual flair as a storyteller, but by the earnestness of the performances of Dieudonne and Roudenko as the older and younger Napoleon. They are the man to his famous nose, their glances perfectly capturing the pride of his beloved boyhood eagle. All those who came after, from Barrault and Mondy to Boyer and Lom could not erase the memory of Dieudonne here, be he standing in the rain surveying the carnage at Toulon or literally playing chess without bothering to look at the board. Not so much a performance as being. Yet arguably the greatest contribution of all is given by Carl Davis, whose music is very much the heartbeat of the film and whose use of library classics is truly exemplary, from the use of Mozart’s 25th symphony hooking you in the opening scene to Beethoven’s mournful 7th symphony surveying the haggard troops of the army of Italy (perhaps a homage to its use in Gance’s later Un Grand Amour de Beethoven). The final burst into early widescreen for a split-screen high-speed montage Tricolor is the final cherry on this gorgeous bakewell, probably the single most euphoric sequence in cinema history, after which, to paraphrase Leonard Maltin’s comments on Branagh’s Henry V, you’re ready to enlist. At one point Josephine tells Napoleon “when you are silent you are irresistible.” Comparing this with the early talkies produced at the same time which now resemble museum pieces, you have to endorse that wholeheartedly. This one really is a transcendental experience.
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Yes, indded, the Brownlow restoration with Davis’s score is the ONLY version to see and own. Clearly in scope, energy, and revolutionary style, one of the greatest films in history, and surely one that deserves this lofty ranking.
An epic if there ever was one. And I’m making that statement only having seen the Coppola version. Can’t wait to see the longer cut whose review you have brilliantly put up here…
Not my favorite Gance – but this is a film I think I would like much more with a music change. I’ve seen it on VHS and the big screen and both times I’m pretty sure it was the Coppola version (the second time I know it was). My favorite part is the revolutionary sequence with Danton, Robespierre, and Gance as Sant-Just.
And then there were 3…
At ANY length this a remarkable film (I’ve only seen the Coppola presentation). Majestic, jaw-dropping and truly epic in scope and innovation this is an epic that sets the tone for many to follow. Seeing and knowing this film, and the fact that this is THE greatest film about the French dictator, it makes me curious about something. After the release of 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, Sta,ley Kubrick set out to make his biography of NAPOLEON. Surely, a brain like Stanley, with power and money to spare, had seen this film. Never wanting to tread water that has already taken a swimmer and never wanting to be bested by another film-maker, its a wonder why Stanley would have even considered this topic. I’ve read interviews with Kubrick in which he praises silent masters like Griffith, Pabst and Gance. Something that never made sense to me.
Regarding Kubrick, he clearly wanted to do some costume picture with a battle scene, and Barry Lyndon was the end result. I know little about the Napoleon film’s aborted history, but I believe that Kubrick imparted his Napoleon obsession to Jack Nicholson, who long wanted to make THE MURDER OF NAPOLEON. Was Nicholson Kubrick’s Napoleon at any point, or did the topic come up while they made The Shining? In addition, Anthony Burgess publsihed NAPOLEON SYMPHONY during the time of talk about Kubrick’s project. Was that a coincidence or an outgrowth of an aborted collaboration with Kubrick?
As for the Gance film, this is one where I really feel that I haven’t seen it until I see it on a big screen (or screens). I accept it as a nationalistic film with all the inevitable baggage while noting the giant contradictions within sometimes-pacifist Gance. He and Griffith are two of a kind.
Simple, Dennis, when Stanley was going to make the film, it was believed that Gance’s film was lost – Kevin Brownlow was searching for bits of it for over a decade before its final release in 1980. Kubrick would never have seen Gance’s film at that time, though I’m sure did later.
THANKS FOR THE INFO ALLAN!!!!!
SAMUEL WILSON-as ALLLAN has already brought to fore, Stanley would have never seen this film that is so brilliantly reviewed above. As for Stanley’s film on the famed Frenchman; it is well known that Kubrick was obsessed with the topic, read every book about him, collected documentaries and materials of the period. JACK NICHOLSON was Stanley’s ONLY choice to play Bonaparte and the two exchanged ideas on the film for quite a bit of time. Glenda Jackson was also set, or chosen by Kubrick for the female lead role of Napoleons mother and Audrey Hepburn had even signed on, wanting to work with director, to play Josephine (this cast is so interesting its a pity the film was never made). A recent book collection (I forget the publisher) called STANLEY KUBRICK’S NAPOLEON-THE GREATEST FILM THAT NEVER WAS, has just been released (includes full screenplay, all of Kubricks notes, test photos, etc). Only bad part is there are only 100,000 copys goinf for 2500 a piece. Ouch!
Yeah. A bit like Matthew Barney’s “Cremaster Cycle”– only 20 sets of DVD’s made for $100,000 a piece as a starting price. Just plain disgusting.
SAMUEL WILSON-Kubricks association with Anthony Burgess goes no further than this: Burgess wrote the novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Kubrick wrote the screenplay, produced and directed the film A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. I remember an interview Kubrick allowed a show on the BBC to do where he said he only ever had ONE conversation with Burgess over the phone, found the author talked too much and thought way too much of himself. It was then and there that Stanley, who now owned the rights to A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, hung up the phone and decided to do everything pertaining to ACO by himself.
I have read Kevin Brownlow’s book. I can’t wait to see the Brownlow version. Is it a good quality print? Where is it being shown? Is it on DVD? Has it been on TCM?
James, you do realise you almost certainly never will see the Brownlow version on DVD, cinema or TV, thanks to the nepotistic machinations of Francis Ford Cockola.