Napoléon (Abel Gance, 1927)

[WorstFella]

Ticket availability seems pretty safe right now. Availability ranges from 1,499 seats on March 24th to 1,706 on April 1. Most of the $120 seats are sold, but the remaining tickets ($40, $55, $70, $90) still exist in healthy numbers. You shouldn't worry about it selling out anytime soon (though I did and bought a ticket immediately).

[willoneill]

At his talk at the SFSFF, Kevin Brownlow made it perfectly clear that there will be no DVD/Blu-Ray release of Napoléon.

Did he say why?

[McCrutchy]

Ticket availability seems pretty safe right now. Availability ranges from 1,499 seats on March 24th to 1,706 on April 1. Most of the $120 seats are sold, but the remaining tickets ($40, $55, $70, $90) still exist in healthy numbers. You shouldn't worry about it selling out anytime soon (though I did and bought a ticket immediately).

I was terrified of this and after learning of the screening last Sunday (7/17) I was very antsy about having to wait for Wednesday (!) to contact the box office about seating arrangements--I don't trust Ticketmaster in expensive cases--I ended up snagging some Orchestra seats for the 31st and Ist shows and now I just need to book my flight/hotel.

I'm trying really hard to focus on seeing The Paramount in all its glory, because I have a sickening suspicion that eventually, this will play Radio City Music Hall again and I may be wasting hundreds of dollars. I would be upset to learn of this playing in NYC within 2-3 years from now, but beyond that, I suppose I'd live...

Also, isn't it a 3,000 seat theatre? So about half the tickets are gone for those shows already, a whole eight months prior to the screening?!

[Drucker]

I'm in New Jersey. I have some family friends in Oakland and I'm contemplating bringing my mom. I'm hoping they'll put us up, or perhaps even join us...and make a fun weekend out of it. I've only been to SF /Bay Area once and I loved it.
Worst case scenario I figure I got to spend some time in San Fran. Even if it plays at Radio City (or the Met? is that not possible?) I wouldn't regret that.

[WorstFella]

Ticket availability seems pretty safe right now. Availability ranges from 1,499 seats on March 24th to 1,706 on April 1. Most of the $120 seats are sold, but the remaining tickets ($40, $55, $70, $90) still exist in healthy numbers. You shouldn't worry about it selling out anytime soon (though I did and bought a ticket immediately).

I was terrified of this and after learning of the screening last Sunday (7/17) I was very antsy about having to wait for Wednesday (!) to contact the box office about seating arrangements--I don't trust Ticketmaster in expensive cases--I ended up snagging some Orchestra seats for the 31st and Ist shows and now I just need to book my flight/hotel.

I'm trying really hard to focus on seeing The Paramount in all its glory, because I have a sickening suspicion that eventually, this will play Radio City Music Hall again and I may be wasting hundreds of dollars. I would be upset to learn of this playing in NYC within 2-3 years from now, but beyond that, I suppose I'd live...

Also, isn't it a 3,000 seat theatre? So about half the tickets are gone for those shows already, a whole eight months prior to the screening?!

A number of seats in the theater have never been up for tickets, perhaps because of an unsatisfactory viewing position.

[MichaelB]

I want a Blu-ray with the option to set up three separate TVs!

Apparently when Channel Four's Jeremy Isaacs first secured the rights after having seen the 1980 world premiere of the Brownlow restoration (with Carl Davis's score), he actually got in touch with his opposite numbers at the BBC and ITV to discuss the possibility of them broadcasting two of the triptych panels at the same time.

I don't have my copy of Isaac's Storm Over 4 to hand, but I do remember him commenting that one of the people he contacted was very tactful, and that "without actually saying that I was off my rocker" he wondered just how many people in the country owned three identically-sized television sets and would be in a position to line them up in order to facilitate this. Isaacs accepted his reasoning and dropped the idea - both the Channel 4 broadcasts (1983 and 1989) made use of Gance's alternative non-Polyvision single-screen ending.

The triptychs present a headache for domestic formats, because with an aspect ratio of 4:1 the picture is going to look pretty tiny even on a massive screen - and of course you'd get the exact opposite of the slack-jawed "wow!" factor of the screen expanding to triple the width (this was pulled off particularly well at the Royal Festival Hall screening in 2000).

[McCrutchy]

I want a Blu-ray with the option to set up three separate TVs!

Apparently when Channel Four's Jeremy Isaacs first secured the rights after having seen the 1980 world premiere of the Brownlow restoration (with Carl Davis's score), he actually got in touch with his opposite numbers at the BBC and ITV to discuss the possibility of them broadcasting two of the triptych panels at the same time.

I don't have my copy of Isaac's Storm Over 4 to hand, but I do remember him commenting that one of the people he contacted was very tactful, and that "without actually saying that I was off my rocker" he wondered just how many people in the country owned three identically-sized television sets and would be in a position to line them up in order to facilitate this. Isaacs accepted his reasoning and dropped the idea - both the Channel 4 broadcasts (1983 and 1989) made use of Gance's alternative non-Polyvision single-screen ending.

The triptychs present a headache for domestic formats, because with an aspect ratio of 4:1 the picture is going to look pretty tiny even on a massive screen - and of course you'd get the exact opposite of the slack-jawed "wow!" factor of the screen expanding to triple the width (this was pulled off particularly well at the Royal Festival Hall screening in 2000).

To me, the best option would be to present a choice of viewing the end in 4:1 or viewing the end in one of the three panel images, for a total of "four" "alternate" endings, giving the purists an ability to mimic the triptych, while also preserving the picture quality of the ending footage on the Blu-ray. And yes, ideally when some new technology comes along that makes it easy to do, some format should literally be able of mimicking the triptych on three TVs.

[MichaelB]

To me, the best option would be to present a choice of viewing the end in 4:1 or viewing the end in one of the three panel images, for a total of "four" "alternate" endings, giving the purists an ability to mimic the triptych, while also preserving the picture quality of the ending footage on the Blu-ray. And yes, ideally when some new technology comes along that makes it easy to do, some format should literally be able of mimicking the triptych on three TVs.

So how would this work, then? You'd buy three copies, and play them in three Blu-ray players linked to three identically-sized televisions, remembering to press all three 'play' buttons at exactly the same time? Even without the aesthetic complication that the panels are designed for 4:3-shaped screens designed to fit seamlessly together (in other words, an additional problem to Isaacs' original conundrum), surely only a vanishingly small number of people would be able to stage this? Quite aside from anything else, the cost would be such that you'd be better off flying to San Francisco and watching it live.

This is the same problem that Jeremy Isaacs faced: it sounds great in theory, but it's so wildly impractical that it's hard to justify economically. It was hard enough to arrange for three projectors to line up next to each other in cinemas, which is why Polyvision never took off and even the not dissimilar Cinerama remained an expensive niche format.

[McCrutchy]

To me, the best option would be to present a choice of viewing the end in 4:1 or viewing the end in one of the three panel images, for a total of "four" "alternate" endings, giving the purists an ability to mimic the triptych, while also preserving the picture quality of the ending footage on the Blu-ray. And yes, ideally when some new technology comes along that makes it easy to do, some format should literally be able of mimicking the triptych on three TVs.

So how would this work, then? You'd buy three copies, and play them in three Blu-ray players linked to three identically-sized televisions, remembering to press all three 'play' buttons at exactly the same time? Even without the aesthetic complication that the panels are designed for 4:3-shaped screens designed to fit seamlessly together (in other words, an additional problem to Isaacs' original conundrum), surely only a vanishingly small number of people would be able to stage this? Quite aside from anything else, the cost would be such that you'd be better off flying to San Francisco and watching it live.

This is the same problem that Jeremy Isaacs faced: it sounds great in theory, but it's so wildly impractical that it's hard to justify economically. It was hard enough to arrange for three projectors to line up next to each other in cinemas, which is why Polyvision never took off and even the not dissimilar Cinerama remained an expensive niche format.

I never said it would happen on Blu-ray, I said it should happen when the technology is easily capable. Right now it would be rather difficult on Blu-ray, which is why I suggested the different options for viewing the triptych on Blu-ray on a single 16:9 screen either one panel at a time, or in the 4:1 presentation.

In any event, this difficulty is one of the handful of reasons I am making the journey to Oakland to see the film live.

[Giap]

I think I remain a little indifferent to the idea of Napoleon on DVD (or even blu-ray) for this reason. I very much enjoyed the last showing at the Royal Festival Hall, I have my memory of that and no home-video release is going to come anywhere near the same experience.

[zola]

Hi. I registered to let you know there's a French restored version that will be broadcast in France this week.

Good news : It's in HD
Bad news : it's the 1934 re-edited version (sigh...)

[WorstFella]

That's actually really great news, since the 1934 version has sound and has been almost completely unavailable since its release. Not simply a cut-down silent Napoléon.

For Gance devotees like me this is very exciting.

[Ann Harding]

I recorded this 1934 version. Oh God! What a disaster... Gance destroyed his own masterpiece with gusto. He shot new scenes which are so static it feels like an Edison film of 1900. He re-edited some of the silent footage with some (vaguely) synchronized dialogue and added some extra footage to some. It's hard to take seriously the new 'Three Gods' scene with an ageing Van Daële (Robespierre) and toothless Artaud (Marat), both chewing the scenery like mad in claustrophobic close-ups. If you want my advice: avoid at all cost!

[MichaelB]

Gilbert Adair in the Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1982:

Predictably, the result was horrible, as though Frans Hals' 'The Laughing Cavalier' had been wired for sound, his throaty guffaws echoing through the gallery.

[Ann Harding]

Perfect quote, MichaelB.

[Ann Harding]

Napoléon will be screened in London at the Royal Festival Hall on November 30th, 2013. Carl Davis mentions the date in this interesting interview.

[MichaelB]

The Royal Festival Hall is about as perfect a venue for this film as I can imagine - when I saw it at the Barbican, the triptychs were impressive but not completely overwhelming since the height of the image had to shrink, but at the RFH in 2000 they pulled off the crucial effect of the screen expanding.

[Ann Harding]

With the added bonus of the Philharmonia Orchestra, one of the best in London, it should be perfect.

[Drucker]

Didn't they say the only performances planned were the ones in San Francisco? Does this renew hope it could come to NYC?

[ando]

Apparently the U.S. World premiere of Brownlow's latest restoration will happen this March.

Wish I could be there.

[filmyfan]

Kevin Brownlow gave a fascinating talk on Friday about his undending quest to restore Napoleon to a packed NFT2 audience.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_south ... alk_kevin_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


He talked for around 90 mins interspersed with clips and then a Q&A to finish.

Although to me he seemed to raise more questions than answers !

The good news is :-KB now says that all legal disputes are a thing of the past.

The San Francisco screening seems to be the same as was shown at the RFH in 2004 and very unlikely that Napoleon will ever be released on DVD unless someone comes forward with a vast amount of money.

KB did drop in as an aside that he has found more material-but no-one followed this up with a question !

A date for London has yet to be finalised (likely late 2013)-but they could feasibly show it tomorrow -but again would need a vast amount of money.

Someone called for a Gance retrospective to tie in with the likely 2013 performance and that seemed to go down well with the BFI representative in attendance.

Just a query-who own the UK rights ?-Is it KB or the BFI or a mixture ?

[MichaelB]

Just a query-who own the UK rights ?-Is it KB or the BFI or a mixture ?

I think it's the BFI, though presumably Brownlow would be closely involved with any plans.

[Calvin]

If the rights issues have been sorted out why would it need a "vast" amount of money to release on DVD/Blu-Ray?

[MichaelB]

If the rights issues have been sorted out why would it need a "vast" amount of money to release on DVD/Blu-Ray?

I imagine the cost of recording a six-hour score for full orchestra would be pretty astronomical, given that you'd have to pay all the musicians for rehearsal and studio time. Unless they cut corners by recording one of the live shows, but then you'd end up with flubs and applause - and even then I suspect Musicians' Union rules would dictate a hefty additional cost.

[perkizitore]

The BFI started a fundraiser for the silent Hitchcock films, I don't see why the same cannot happen for Napoleon!