{"id":1085,"date":"2006-05-10T18:16:45","date_gmt":"2006-05-11T01:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2021-01-08T17:30:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T00:30:54","slug":"napoleon-napoleon-vu-par-abel-gance-1927","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1085","title":{"rendered":"Napoleon \/ Napoleon Vu Par Abel Gance (1927)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The destiny of an entire empire often hangs upon a single man.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Poster.jpg 506w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nNapoleon Buonaparte (Albert Dieudonne) rises from humble obscurity to emerge as France&#8217;s greatest military leader.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Biopic<\/li>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>French Revolution<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Military<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nPeary asserts that no other silent films are as &#8220;visually spectacular&#8221; as those of director Abel Gance, pointing out his prodigious experimental techniques &#8212; including &#8220;split-screen photography, hand-held cameras, super-impositions, rapid-fire editing, color tinting, and a mobile camera&#8221; &#8212; all in a movie made decades before The New Wave movement of the 1960s. Throughout the lengthy narrative (consisting of &#8220;six major episodes, each a film unto itself&#8221;), Gance manages to effectively humanize this larger-than-life historical icon, who is depicted as &#8220;always in the right place at the right time to help his troubled country&#8221;: in one of the film&#8217;s most celebrated sequences, we first see a willful young Napoleon (Vladimir Roudenko) as he engages in a snowball fight with his peers, while the seeds of this infamous leader&#8217;s insecurity, fury, and diligence are clearly laid out before us; later, we see surprising vulnerability as Napoleon nervously woos divorcee Josephine de Beauharnais (Gina Manes) and her two children.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently Gance was stymied in his original desire to depict the entire arc of Napoleon&#8217;s life, so the resulting &#8220;truncated&#8221; film simply shows one man&#8217;s rise to power without the inevitable balance of his fall.  Nonetheless, this is actually oddly effective as a rhetorical technique; by the end of the film, as split-screen cinematography shows a close-up of Napoleon&#8217;s face surrounded on either side by triumphant battle scenes, we understand that this was a man who was all too human, but simultaneously larger than life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vladimir Roudenko as young Napoleon<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-1024x641.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"401\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48895\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-1024x641.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-768x481.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko-1536x961.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Roudenko.png 1635w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The justifiably famous &#8220;snowball scene&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-1024x645.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"403\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48896\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-1024x645.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-300x189.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-128x81.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-768x484.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight-1536x968.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Snowball-Fight.png 1607w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Prodigious use of clever camera techniques, including split-screen images<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-1024x634.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"396\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48897\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-1024x634.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-128x79.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-768x475.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera-1536x950.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Napoleon-Camera.png 1647w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Effective rapidfire editing\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes. This massive French epic will take some time to get through, but is worth watching at least once.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0018192\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/decentfilms.com\/sections\/reviews\/napoleon1927.html\">Decent Films Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematicthreads.com\/review.php?id=438&#038;ltr=N\">Cinematic Threads Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The destiny of an entire empire often hangs upon a single man.&#8221; Synopsis: Napoleon Buonaparte (Albert Dieudonne) rises from humble obscurity to emerge as France&#8217;s greatest military leader. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Biopic French Films French Revolution Historical Drama Military Silent Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Peary asserts that no other silent films are as &#8220;visually spectacular&#8221; as those of director Abel Gance, pointing out his prodigious experimental techniques &#8212; including &#8220;split-screen photography, hand-held cameras, super-impositions, rapid-fire editing, color&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1085\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62355,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/62355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}