Napoleon [VHS]
starring: Annabella, Antonin Artaud, Pierre Batcheff, Henri Baudin, Alexandre Bernard
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Abel Gance's 1927 masterpiece is absolutely indispensable for silent-film buffs or anyone interested in classic world cinema. From the future emperor's first strategic victory, a schoolyard snowball fight, to the climactic invasion of Italy, Napoleon truly rules! This is no static, antiquated relic. Among Gance's innovations was to free the camera (for one battle scene, he had it mounted on horseback!). The film's justly celebrated climax features a triptych of synchronized images that anticipates by more than 30 years Cinerama and widescreen. But more than a triumph of filmmaking, Napoleon is a triumph of film restoration and was a boon to the vital cause of film preservation. Gance's movie was long thought lost. But historian Kevin Brownlow, with the cooperation of film archives from around the world, spent more than a decade painstakingly reassembling it. Francis Ford Coppola's name (not to mention a reported quarter of a million of his dollars) helped find Napoleon the audience this film so richly deserves. The rousing score was composed by Coppola's father, Carmine. Viva la Gance! --Donald Liebenson
Abel Gance's 1927 masterpiece is absolutely indispensable for silent-film buffs or anyone interested in classic world cinema. From the future emperor's first strategic victory, a schoolyard snowball fight, to the climactic invasion of Italy, Napoleon truly rules! This is no static, antiquated relic. Among Gance's innovations was to free the camera (for one battle scene, he had it mounted on horseback!). The film's justly celebrated climax features a triptych of synchronized images that anticipates by more than 30 years Cinerama and widescreen. But more than a triumph of filmmaking, Napoleon is a triumph of film restoration and was a boon to the vital cause of film preservation. Gance's movie was long thought lost. But historian Kevin Brownlow, with the cooperation of film archives from around the world, spent more than a decade painstakingly reassembling it. Francis Ford Coppola's name (not to mention a reported quarter of a million of his dollars) helped find Napoleon the audience this film so richly deserves. The rousing score was composed by Coppola's father, Carmine. Viva la Gance! --Donald Liebenson
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- This is the version we have. Watch it!
Yes, it's a little irritating to know that somebody, somewhere, is playing keepaway with a sizeable chunk of this jaw-dropping film, but what we have of Brownlow's labor of love is worth keeping your VCR connected for.
Rating: 
- Gance's overblown masterpiece is available on DVD...
This is not so much a review as a notice that the "Zoetrope" version of "Napoleon" is available on DVD from Australia (I got my copy from EzyDVD). You should be able to get it for under $25. The DVD is Region 4, so you will need a multi-region DVD player, but it plays fine. I presume it is identical to this VHS version. I'm not a huge fan of this film (hence the three stars and the inevitable slating I'll receive), but it nevertheless deserves a worldwide DVD release so people can make up their own ... Read More
Rating: 
- Manifique!
Upon seeing the restored and re-released film in 1981, I placed this silent at the top of my list of favorite foreign films from the silent era.The use of triptych, color, and daring camera angles is breathtaking!Gance was one of film's innovative pioneering geniuses.Although at times the acting is a bit stilted, the viewer must remember that these actors are turn-of-the-century schooled; today's acting style is far different and more relaxed.The electricity sparks between Napoleon and Josephine. ... Read More
Rating: - in the heart of the master pieces
Not only the history of Europe takes place in the images of this movie but also it is decided through the steps of a man. Like would Pierre Teilhard de Chardin say: aristogenesis.
Rating: - Gance needed a figure as powerful as "Napoleon" to fulfill his dream of super cinema...
Abel Gance's 'Napoleon' was premiered on April 7, 1927, at the Paris Opera House, the first movie to be accorded such an honor... It was been shown on a triple screen and to full orchestral accompaniment, running slightly under four hours...
Impressive as it seems, it was conceived as the first of a six-part biography running many hours and tracing the life of Napoleon from childhood to the bitter end in St Helena... Fortunately-for Abel Gance who directed and for us-the project was only completed ... Read More
- This is the version we have. Watch it!Yes, it's a little irritating to know that somebody, somewhere, is playing keepaway with a sizeable chunk of this jaw-dropping film, but what we have of Brownlow's labor of love is worth keeping your VCR connected for.
- Gance's overblown masterpiece is available on DVD...This is not so much a review as a notice that the "Zoetrope" version of "Napoleon" is available on DVD from Australia (I got my copy from EzyDVD). You should be able to get it for under $25. The DVD is Region 4, so you will need a multi-region DVD player, but it plays fine. I presume it is identical to this VHS version. I'm not a huge fan of this film (hence the three stars and the inevitable slating I'll receive), but it nevertheless deserves a worldwide DVD release so people can make up their own ... Read More
- Manifique!Upon seeing the restored and re-released film in 1981, I placed this silent at the top of my list of favorite foreign films from the silent era.The use of triptych, color, and daring camera angles is breathtaking!Gance was one of film's innovative pioneering geniuses.Although at times the acting is a bit stilted, the viewer must remember that these actors are turn-of-the-century schooled; today's acting style is far different and more relaxed.The electricity sparks between Napoleon and Josephine. ... Read More
- in the heart of the master piecesNot only the history of Europe takes place in the images of this movie but also it is decided through the steps of a man. Like would Pierre Teilhard de Chardin say: aristogenesis.
- Gance needed a figure as powerful as "Napoleon" to fulfill his dream of super cinema...Abel Gance's 'Napoleon' was premiered on April 7, 1927, at the Paris Opera House, the first movie to be accorded such an honor... It was been shown on a triple screen and to full orchestral accompaniment, running slightly under four hours...
Impressive as it seems, it was conceived as the first of a six-part biography running many hours and tracing the life of Napoleon from childhood to the bitter end in St Helena... Fortunately-for Abel Gance who directed and for us-the project was only completed ... Read More
