Kermode Uncut: Napoleon

www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode
I’m often asked about my reaction to movie trailers - well here is one that has really got me excited...

[@gorankatic40000bc]

''Old'' and ''new'' in film does not exist. All film is new because it is a young form of expression, old only 121 years, in historical terms it is nothing. Abel Gance's ''Napoleon'' is not ''ahead of its time'' but as a masterpiece it surpasses epochs just as ''Hamlet'' or Bosch's art or mosaics at Pompeii or drawings at Altamira and Lascaux transcend millenniums. In reality film today is in visual decadence, where film from the 1920's - before the sound - was more fresh, more vibrant, more open to the experiments and aimed towards expanding the limits of form. So masterpiece remains masterpiece through epochs. And that is what ''Napoleon'' is - a masterpiece.

[@haileyshannon7548]

Years ago, I found a VHS of the Coppola cut in my Community College library, and would watch it during my class breaks. What a masterpiece!

[@GuyWithACamera23]

Saw this in the cinema yesterday. It was the best cinema experience of my life.

[@MontagZoso]

Well I am very jealous that you were able to see this in a movie theater. How and when and where were you able to see this? I am so envious!

[@Survivethejive]

This is one of the greatest films ever made.....but it is soooo long

[@nikosvault]

One of my favorite stories of obscure directors being saved by the dedicated passion of one film preservationist (in this case Kevin Brownlow). His restoration with the help of the BFI culminated in a screening at the Telluride Film Festival in 1979, with 89-year-old Abel Gance watching from a nearby hotel window.

[@MontagZoso]

Wow, how amazing and wonderful that Gance was able to observe a screening of his film in 1979! That makes me happy, since he passed away in 1981. He lived long enough to see the screening. Fantastic. :)

[@Egg-mr7np]

That shot at 2:04 of horse riding is not something I would expect from a silent movie. Very contemporary looking.

[@MontagZoso]

Absolutely. Abel Gance (director) mounted cameras on moving horses (as well as several other innovative camera techniques) to get beautiful shots like this. :)

[@mattwells2479]

The holy grail of releases. Finally!!! Roll on the 23rd when I receive it on Blu-ray.

[@landheart2255]

Saw this given the "3-screens projection" in Auckland New Zealand at a film festival in the 80's, a wonderful film!

[@rudyfan1926]

In 2012 this restoration screened in the US with Davis conducting live. It remains the greatest cinema experience of my life. There are not sufficient words to describe it. Unforgettable and amazing.

[@ventricity]

I'm amazed by the production qualities of those scenes

[@mattlohr]

I saw a print of this about nine years ago at LACMA in Los Angeles (on Bastille Day, fittingly), and it was one of the great moviegoing experiences of my life. At the intermission, I remember saying to myself that it was no wonder that after this, sound was the next logical step. This film takes the art of silent cinema as far as it could possibly go.

[@bryancolley1409]

Fantastic movie! It's been missing from bluray for far too long.

[@Firguy]

It's going to be 100 years old in seven years. I'm going to set aside some money so I can go see it at a Polyvision screening.

[@MontagZoso]

Fantastic...I am so excited this film is available again, thank you for uploading!! The fact that they made a wowser of a TRAILER for this 1927 masterpiece is already astonishing and gorgeously done, wow! I could only wish to see this on the big screen...

[@johnsmith5669]

Napoleon directed by Abel Gance starring Antonin Artaud with new orchestral score! Sold!

[@drnickyp]

I was there at the live performance at the Royal Festival Hall - it was FANTASTIC!!!!!

[@johnllevis3772]

I have the original BFI Abel Gance DVD 6 hours version. And it is A One Of A Kind Movies.

[@brendenkillough]

Epic beyond belief.

[@crazyhorsewest4605]

Got tickets for this Sunday at the Edinburgh playhouse, and it's a shame the film isn't showing in Glasgow! But! A day with Napoleon in Edinburgh... what's not to love?

[@isammolina4842]

Esto es CINE !!!!🎬🎥💎🌹🍃💎🌹🍃💎🌹🍃👍👏👏

[@sternchild]

I really want to go see this on the big screen but the runtime makes me genuinely worried and think that it might be better if I just pick up the blu ray instead

[@napoleonzivkovic1679]

Trying to organise a double-feature screening of this along with Jim Jarmusch's imminent new U.S. release of my hometown ('Paterson')...

[@truongtholam8318]

Wishing for one day will find 9hrs version

[@markmcauleymcauley9287]

Is terrific

[@PauLtus_B]

Wasn't it in like 4:1 originally? Edit: just parts of it?

[@ilikebananassometimes3608]

Just the finale.

[@PauLtus_B]

Tanveer Ahmed - pbuh Interesting. Going to be a bit rubbish if you don't have the right screen though.

[@johnpalooka8814]

John Palooka

[@heathermcfarlane6164]

Is this the same thing as Coppola's effort?

[@jonathanmelia]

Heather McFarlane I don't think so. If I remember rightly, Carl Davis wrote the score which was premiered in London in the early 1980s, but then Coppola's father Carmine wrote another score for live screenings in the US, which was meant to be pretty bad. This version has the Davis score.

[@BifrostMR]

Brits restoring a biopic of Napoleon? I guess the first scenes they restored were the battle of Waterloo :P

[@suttree3233]

Noice

[@bennyfairfax1]

Archer?

[@amazingbollweevil]

Trailers are the WORSE! Most of them give away so much of the plot that the movie is spoiled. This is why I did not see Tom Hank's "Cast Away." The trailer summarized the entire film and even gave away the ending. I never watch trailers. I just wait for YOU to tell me if the film is worth watching.

[@eyecandytvltd]

I like you Mark, but can't take you seriously when you're out of focus

[@zepsabpurp999]

Genuinely thought this was about Kermode comparing Trump to Napoleon, in that they were/are both pigs, at least on-screen anyway. 😬

[@Gallyga]

Mark will be seriously disappointed by the lack of gender equality in this film. EDIT: Interesting. I'm getting a few notifications of people replying but they don't appear here. Little bit of the old Liberal censorship at play methinks.