Discover
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Anatole Litvak
Assistant Director -
Abel Gance
Director -
Alexandre Volkoff
Assistant Director -
Viktor Tourjansky
Assistant Director -
Segundo de Chomón
Special Effects -
Eugène Lourié
Art Direction -
Georges Lampin
Assistant Director -
Léonce-Henri Burel
Additional Photography
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CinemaSerf 6/6/2022 6:32:51 PM
Where to start? Carl Davis' recently composed inspiring score provides a wonderful accompaniment to the truly epic silent retrospective on the life of Napoleon. I saw a digital restoration recently and the quality of this over 90 year old film (in 2 parts) has lost none of its vivacity and vigour. We start with a snowball fight and end with high drama via some magnificent battle scenes. The tints and hues are subtle and vibrant and Abel Gance directs this with real flair and accomplishment. True, it is long; but compellingly so and if you are at all interested in the story of himself; the French reinvigoration that he led and inspired and of the subsequent historical events that gripped the whole of Europe then this is just the film. It seems way too brief a review for such a masterpiece, but in this case - less is definitely more. His megalomania and shrewd determination is writ large with excellent performances and grand cinematography well ahead of it's time. A big screen must if ever there was one - though take a cushion! (It is also worth acclaiming the skills of those responsible for the preservation and restoration of this film - it is astonishing how much of it has still survived, and in such great quality).
Annabella
Violine Fleury / Bernardine Eugénie Désirée ClaryConrad Veidt
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de SadeAbel Gance
Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-JustSuzanne Bianchetti
Queen Marie-Antoinette of FranceOlaf Fjord
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of BronteAntonin Artaud
Jean-Paul MaratAlbert Dieudonné
Napoléon BonaparteGina Manès
Joséphine, Viscountess of Beauharnais