Abel Gance and Napoleon

Although pressured to have a prosperous career in law by his parents, Abel Gance decided to be independent.  At age 19 he began his career in theater.  His first part in a movie was Moliere in 1909. Gance had a difficult childhood, growing up in poverty and suffering from tuberculosis.  Determined to gain success, he was able to form a production company and be a director of La Digue in 1911.  Many of his films were unsuccessful and he returned to theater.  However, with the outbreak of World War I, his performance never premiered. Since he was ill, he didn't partake in the war.  During these years, Gance was able to excel in the Film d'Art company.  Surprisingly, at this high status, he chose to join the fighting in the war and was later released. He wanted to be redrafted to be able to film scenes for future movies.  The movie he produced out of the battlefield was a great success all over Europe. This was an amazing opportunity for Gance to sustain his prominence in the industry.

Gance's most well-known film is Napoleon, released in 1927.  He used all of the techniques from silent era films and added new techniques never seen before.  The film was shot using a three-camera panorama process, using three projectors and a curved windscreen to create a panoramic appearance.  This was the first time it was introduced, a total phenomenon and advancement in technology.  He even shot scenes in color at least a decade before the Wizard of Oz came out; however, he did not use them for fear of audience rejection.  Gance was an incredible experimentalist in the film industry.  He changed the future of film.  Well, he tried to.  Napoleon was very successful in Euorpe, but failed to entertain people in the United States. How can there be such a drastic difference in reactions? It is because when MGM bought rights to the film, they changed it from the original formating.  Gance believes that his film didn't get enough recognition as it should have. He recreated the film several times using different techniques until British Director Kevin Brownlow spent 20 years remaking Napoleon to the original format. It was then screened in London in 1979.  Francis Ford Coppola screened the film at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, 1981.  Now, Gance was finally successful in the United States.

After learning all of this about Abel Gance, I believe that his film could have created revolutionary changes in the film industry in the United States if the original format was not changed.  I think that since the original gained a standing ovation, then it deserved something more than Americans simply laughing at it.  It is clear that Gance gained recognition, but that is how many years later? It should have been recognized much earlier.  Napoleon was an advancement in technology that helped other filmmakers produce better films.