Napoleon

by Kevin Brownlow

Book Overview

No Marketing Blurb This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394721160
• ISBN13: 9780394721163
• Release Date: October 1983
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Book condition not revealed

The book arrived promptly. Interior pages are fine but both front and back covers are splattered with white paint. This was not revealed in the book's description and to me greatly lessens the value of the book, certainly its appearance. Unfortunately, as this purchase in less than $15, returns are not allowed, but at least the next customer of this seller might be warned.

An Amazing Tale

Very few stories of the makings of films can be described as truly dramatic, dramatic enough to form a story worth telling in its own right. Citizen Kane qualifies, as do Platoon and Once Upon a Time in America.But all these very famous stories of dramatic productions pale in comparison to the story of the making - and reconstruction - of Abel Gance's magnificent silent epic Napoleon (1927). Brownlow, who appears to have been the prime mover behind the incredible revival of this film through the late 1970s and early 1980s, tells a story of a film epic that was practically ignored in the hype over the new hi-tech "talkies". Abel Gance's "Napoleon" suffered indignity after indignity as it was first butchered by money-minded studios in America wanting to suppress foreign creativity, then turned into a patched-up sound film, and finally totally forgotten by all but a very few; the remaining fragments of film rotting in film archives throughout the world.Were it not for young Brownlow's rediscovery of the film in little 9.5mm abridgements in his local store in Englkand, then it is likely that the film "Napoleon" would never have been rediscovered. Thanks to Brownlow's virtual obsession over this film, he broke through all barriers to find more and more of the film, finally being the main force in its reconstruction. Through it all we hear of vast and distasteful conspiracies against Brownlow's work; of archives jealously guarding the remains of the film uintil they literally rot away; of obsessive - and cruel - collectors determined to do the same; of massive commercial intereasts, heartless and money-minded, threatening to strangle the project several times over - of painstaking restoration with mylar tape and scissors.Beyond that, we hear of triumphs; the exciting discoveries, over and over, of new pieces of film; new sequences whose genius was a little too much for their timel; of the incredible reception the film received in 1981-3 with the new restorations, especially the french restoration of 1982; and above all, the moving reminisces of visiting the aging, seriously embittered, and very egotistical Abel Gance himself!This book is about as dramatic as stories about the making of a film can get. Although Brownlow descends into abject worship fairly often - Abel Gance seems like a rather unpleasant fellow to me - and his obsession sometimes gets a little disturbing and "on the nose", there can be no doubting his enthusiasm and joy in his task. We feel for him every time he discovers a never-before-seen sequence of incredible genius; or when he finds that a certain hostile collector has let his copy of the film rot to pieces. It is a real adventure story; a story about a film, that goes way, way beyond mere box office receipts and the Hollywood process. This is a real story of guerilla film restoration!Of course, the book also is a wonderful introduction and companion to the film itself - already released on DVD in Australia and England, and short