Wonderful score and impressive techniques.

Hard to wrap your head around. Such a staggering, immense work of creative and emotional power. There are points at which the screen feels so alive, it seems on the verge of pulling itself apart. I viewed the 1989 Brownlow version, with Carl Davis' wonderful score.

The rapid cuts, the camera movement, the wonderful score, the compelling story, there's nothing this film doesn't do right.

108

This towering masterpiece is one of the greatest films ever made, and has been superbly reconstructed. The fact that Gance directed this epochal and visually stunning biography in 1925-1927 makes the film all the more remarkable.

What an incredible masterpiece. I was completely blown away by the early yet already masterful use of film techniques we now take for granted. The Coppola score combines fantastically with the dynamic, gripping visuals. Must be seen to be believed, my bumbling words can't really convey the sheer epic effort in both storytelling and filmmaking.

Dynamite!

Scale wise, Abel Gance has constructed a monstrous production. Its only 1927 yet so many filming techniques are on show to such an incredible extent. The orchestral score is staggering and makes me wish I could see this film in a cinema. Napoleon Bonaparte's story is shown and told in so many ways that only makes other biopics seem so feeble in comparison.

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The sheer ambition of NAPOLEON would be enough to secure its place in film history, and what it accomplishes in terms of editing, cinematography, and production design are on a par with anything that has come since. And in Albert Dieudonne, Abel Gance found as perfect a Napoleon as one could hope for. The romantic elements (most of which are complete fabrication) are distressingly mediocre, but they can be overlooked in favor of such marvels as the soaring final triptych. Brisk at 5 1/2 hours.

Watching this not long after 'War and Peace' (1967) proved seriously unwise. What I thought would be an inspired companion piece came off as wildly inferior. Also, I had expected the triptych to be used much more than just in the last few scenes. So please understand that my rating is supposed to reflect my lack of enjoyment - I'm not saying it's uninteresting from a film historical perspective or that it wasn't an achievement in 1927 - it's just that I can't really recommend sitting through it.

#107

Gance's film is more about the style and the epic scope than it is the character of Napoleon. And what style. Whether it's the split screen, the handheld, the tracking shots, the brilliant edits, the varied pacing, or even the splash of color, the film is bursting over with formal, and for the time, innovative ideas. Much of Gance innovated one can still find being used in films today, making this one of the seminal masterpieces in cinematic history.

So masterfully filmed, it's mind-blowing. The energy, intensity, quality and brilliance never lets up. Gance's command of cinematic language is awe-inspiring. Cross-cutting, rapid editing, flashbacks, superimpositions and the triple-screen ending; he exploits technique to the fullest to enhance his storytelling. And a great story it is, too, with one of history's most fascinating characters at the center. A compelling tale full of drama, intrigue, action, comedy and romance.

# 112

(2x, Music in 12 Parts) Napoleon standing on a pile of corpses on the battlefield, probably contemplating his next advance. Now, this may as well be what Kinski drew inspiration from. Gance's rendition of Bonaparte has no apologies, no -your hero of day infact had many inherent weaknesses-, it's lasersight delivery of one of the inhuman persona in history. And the sheer size of it is jawdropping. If a movie is shot today with the techniques within here it'd be considered reforming.

A mind-boggling array of technical and aesthetic craftsmanship. Peerless.

101

I can't take all the damn camera waving. It's the first of a long line of "art" films in which the director grabs you by the lapels and screams in your face, "CAN'T YOU SEE HOW BRILLIANT I AM"