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Napoléon

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EntityQ1632158· pop 29· linked from 210 articles

Also known as Napoleon

1927 French silent film directed by Abel Gance

Film · TMDB

7.8

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.

Released: 1927-01-10425 minDir: Abel GanceDrama, History, WarBox office: $39,448

Cast

  • Albert Dieudonné as Napoléon Bonaparte
  • Nicolas Roudenko as Napoléon Bonaparte (Child)
  • Edmond van Daële as Maximilien Robespierre
  • Alexandre Koubitzky as Georges Jacques Danton
  • Antonin Artaud as Jean-Paul Marat
  • Abel Gance as Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just

Themes

  • civil war
  • france
  • paris, france
  • italy
  • french revolution
  • biography
  • napoleon bonaparte
  • based on true story
  • guillotine
  • black and white

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Key facts

Directed by
Abel Gance
Written by
Abel Gance
Produced by
Abel Gance
Starring
Albert Dieudonné Gina Manès Antonin Artaud Edmond Van Daële
Cinematography
Jules Kruger
Edited by
Marguerite Beaugé (1927)
Music by
Arthur Honegger (France) Werner Heymann (Germany)
Distributed by
Pathé-Nathan
Release date
7 April 1927 ( 1927-04-07 )
Running time
562 minutes ( see below )
Country
France
Language
Silent film with intertitles
Box office
$2.5 million (1981 reissue)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Duration
330
FilmAffinity ID
363444
Image
Choumoff - Albert Dieudonné Napoleon.jpg
Show 4 more facts
title
Napoléon
publication date
1929-02-17
Commons category
Napoléon (1927 film)
review score
9.6/10
Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Article

Napoléon (on-screen title: Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance") is a 1927 French silent epic historical film, produced and directed by Abel Gance, that tells the story of Napoleon's early years.

The only film to use Polyvision (for the finale), it is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects. A revival of Napoléon in the mid-1950s influenced the filmmakers of the French New Wave. The film used the Keller-Dorian cinematography for its color sequences.

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