Napoleon (1927)

Originally posted to Facebook on 5/20/2018

Napoleon was our fifth film from 1927, and was directed by Abel Gance. Clocking in at over five hours, it took us most of January to get through. It was divided into four parts, beginning with Napoleon's childhood and ending with him at age 26 -- well before he seized power and about 20% of the way through his Wikipedia page. This movie is at its strongest and most compelling during the portions that deal with the French Revolution, both because it is an inherently interesting story, and also because of the stylishness with which it is told. At this point in our project, we have seen all manner of innovative camera-work, so I can't say whether this film definitely invented any particular technique, but it does feature a wide variety of effects -- extremely quick cutting, division of the screen into quarters and ninths, the camera swinging through meeting halls, and most famously the triptych scenes near the end, with an aspect ratio of 4 to 1. The latter effect was impressive, but the kids, after being initially appreciative, began to complain as it wore on, since it resulted in a dramatically smaller picture on our normally-proportioned TV screen.

We had previously seen 1923's Scaramouche, also set during the French Revolution, but while that was a fictional (though intelligent) Hollywood entertainment, this movie aspires to historical accuracy. As a result, it loses focus on Napoleon periodically, and spends a fair amount of time with Marat, Danton, and Robespierre. Napoleon is at times as much a spectator as the viewer, a feeling perhaps best captured in a memorable scene during the storming of the Tuileries Palace, shown from the standpoint of Napoleon upstairs in his apartment or study, looking out at the mobbed streets, contemplating his future and the future of the Revolution.

I tried to sell the film to Allison as a bit of a sequel to Hamilton, since Lafayette had returned to France by this time, leaving room for the suspiciously similar-looking Jefferson to leave for America. I don't think Lafayette was ever actually portrayed on screen though. I also pointed out that Napoleon had been dead for just over a hundred years when this film was released -- as compared to almost two hundred years now, so he was somewhat less of a distant historical figure for Gance than for modern viewers.

Napoleon is played by Albert Dieudonne, who gives an intense and focused performance, though not a particularly varied one. There is a scene not long after Thermidor when Napoleon is at a party, and Josephine says of him "He is really charming, this Buono-parte." The kids and I remarked at the time how wildly off-base this seemed, because, whatever the other virtues of Dieudonne's performance, it is not charming. After Marat, Danton, and Robespierre disappear from the scene, both the inherent dramatic appeal and the fancy camera-work start to fade -- excepting the triptych mentioned above. An excellent film of normal length could be cut from the first two parts (though it could not sensibly be entitled "Napoleon.") I am not so sure that is true of the third and fourth part.

It is also notable how insanely hagiographically Napoleon is portrayed. I haven't read enough of the history of this period to weigh in definitively, but I think it is safe to say that any approach to Napoleon that regards him as a wholly admirable figure is not an entirely mainstream view -- though of course most assessments of Napoleon take into account the period after he turned 26.

Next week we return with Sunrise, our sixth film from 1927, and our fourth by Murnau, the first since he relocated to Hollywood. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT