Napoléon (Abel Gance, 1927)

[Number Forty-Eight]

The reconstruction work is pretty incredible. Mourier literaly has managed to separate each frame of the film on a FCPX timeline, and then piled up each existing version of each frame one above another.

So that way he can compare every frame and look for reframing, scratches, and of course missing frames. That means every available source was scanned for comparison. He has catalogued them all. When one new source appears from another corner of the globe, he adds it to the roster. So for every frame, he has up to 20 sources scans (or whatever number) piled up to choose from.

Let's say he has a pristine frame, that however is cropped: his team can thus work reinstating the cropped area by mashing up the frames.

Or let's say an otherwise pristine source has a scratch: they either fill-in the scratch from another source, or by digital trickery.

To reconstitute complete shots when frames are missing in the main source, but available on another dupe, they assemble frames from several different sources, and match them all so that the shot is seamless. No wonder this took so long!

[Stefan Andersson]

The Mourier restoration of Napoléon will have seven hours of music, according to this info about an upcoming discussion on the subject at the Cinématheque in Paris:
https://www.cinematheque.fr/intervention/2466.html

Here is an older mention of 7,5 hours of music:
https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/napoleo ... fBaOGME5fM

Also:
https://fondationnapoleon.org/activites ... francaise/
https://www.lefigaro.fr/cinema/la-resta ... e-20210516

[Stefan Andersson]

Latest news:

- Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a new co-sponsor of the Cinematheque Francaise restoration, expected to be complete in late 2023
-Theatrical and DVD release, TV showings and more now planned for 2024
-Symphonic excerpts, from Mozart to Penderecki, will be added to the newly-composed score

Sources:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33147
https://www.cinematheque.fr/media/2022- ... cf-cnc.pdf (in French)

[FrauBlucher]

Latest news:

- Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a new co-sponsor of the Cinematheque Francaise restoration, expected to be complete in late 2023
-Theatrical and DVD release, TV showings and more now planned for 2024
-Symphonic excerpts, from Mozart to Penderecki, will be added to the newly-composed score

Sources:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33147
https://www.cinematheque.fr/media/2022- ... cf-cnc.pdf (in French)

Along with Netflix which makes it a pretty big deal

[MichaelB]

Presumably we're talking post-1970s Penderecki rather than his avant-garde period?

[Stefan Andersson]

Presumably we're talking post-1970s Penderecki rather than his avant-garde period?

I´ve googled this, but found no more details on the subject.

[Stefan Andersson]

The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France tweeted on July 19, in French: new music for Napoleon is now being recorded.
Quote: "Un assemblage inédit de pièces du grand répertoire symphonique conçu par Simon Cloquet-Lafollye" (An unpublished collection of pieces from the grand symphonic repertoire, conceived by Simon Cloquet-Lafollye).

Source: https://twitter.com/PhilharRF/status/15 ... 5581520899

[Stefan Andersson]

More brief news about the new Napoléon soundtrack:
https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusiqu ... lm-9190240
Seems that Cloquet-Lafollye is specially arranging music (from Mozart to the 1970s) to sound like an original film score.
The restoration team is planning an early 2024 release. The triptych sequence runs 20 minutes.

[La Clé du Ciel]

A recent on-stage interview with Cloquet-Lafollye, including (from around 14m30s) two extracts from the new restoration with music: Pozzo chasing Napoleon across Corsica (music: Bartók, Prokofiev, Lyadov) and the murder of Marat (music: Webern).

The musical idiom here is much more akin to the Marius Constant score than any other for NAPOLEON: modernism over romanticism. I’m curious to hear how earlier, eighteenth/nineteenth-century, musical choices are incorporated. Visually, there are lots of subtle differences to previous restorations. Extra shots, superimposed titles. The editing feels sharper, the rhythm clearer, more incisive. It looks stunning. Two more years before we get to see the rest…

[La Clé du Ciel]

Curiously, I find that the above video of the interview and clips of the new NAPOLEON is no longer available. The following info is reported on the vimeo page:

Vimeo has removed or disabled access to the video « Écrire sept heures de musique pour la restauration du Napoléon d'Abel Gance » - Dialogue avec Simon Cloquet as a result of a third-party notification by The Film Preserve, Ltd. that claims this material is infringing on their copyright.

[enjolras]

Curiously, I find that the above video of the interview and clips of the new NAPOLEON is no longer available. The following info is reported on the vimeo page:

Vimeo has removed or disabled access to the video « Écrire sept heures de musique pour la restauration du Napoléon d'Abel Gance » - Dialogue avec Simon Cloquet as a result of a third-party notification by The Film Preserve, Ltd. that claims this material is infringing on their copyright.

That company is owned by Robert Harris, co-holder of the rights of the 'Coppola version'. Not again, please...

[Stefan Andersson]

Napoleon restoration will be shown in early July, 2024 at the Cinematheque Francaise. Announced by Jean-Francois Rauger.

Source: https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=255 - post by Manolito, Nov. 23, 2023

[Stefan Andersson]

Two hours of the new resto was recently shown at the Cinematheque Francaise. The full restoration seems to run seven hours, according to some reports:
https://www.forumopera.com/le-napoleon- ... -retrouve/
https://www.parismatch.com/culture/cine ... ure-232711
https://www.telerama.fr/cinema/napoleon ... 018492.php

[ethel]

Thanks for these links. Of the 1.5 articles available for free reading, it’s interesting to note that when the French are providing “comprehensive” accounts of the restoration of NAPOLEON, they NEVER find space to mention the name of Kevin Brownlow.

So ungracious to ignore the man who assembled the first restoration of this piece and fought fiercely for decades to actually keep it before an international public, revising the reassembly as material became available and understanding of the material deepened, and who entrusted the scoring to the masterful Carl Davis, who was inspired to one of his very greatest works.

It’s all the more egregious when these pieces find room for mentions of Carmine Coppola (Nooo! Not that music!) and even (god help us) Gaspar Noé.

It’s reminiscent of the French treatment of Hector Berlioz, the maverick composer of THE TROJANS, who died a “failure” in 1869. It took the advent of LP records and the first complete production of this opera in London in 1957, with the British conductor Colin Davis, for the French to somewhat grudgingly follow suit several long years later.

[Peacock]

Can anyone share what scenes the Apollo version contains that the Brownlow cut is missing? If we are looking at at least a 7 hour cut here (although some of these articles say the original Apollo version ran over 9?) and the Brownlow cut is 5 and a half hours then assuming the frame rate is the same we are looking at at least an hour and a half of new material.

It’s been a while since I saw the Brownlow cut, I believe there was scenes missing from the Corsica sections but can’t recall the rest. Anyone? La Clé du Ciel?

[Stefan Andersson]

Info about the various versions of Napoléon and Gance´s other Napoleon projects:
https://therealmofsilence.com/2023/12/0 ... s-1923-71/

Also of interest:
https://therealmofsilence.com/2023/05/3 ... therlands/

[Stefan Andersson]

Napoléon Ciné-concert July 4-5, 2024, Seine Musicale, 7 hours:
https://www.sortiraparis.com/loisirs/ci ... illet-2024

Update Feb. 22:
The two-part showing, with live music, referred to above runs 7 hours 5 minutes:
https://thefilmstage.com/the-7-hour-ver ... is-summer/

[low87]

More about the score:

https://information.tv5monde.com/cultur ... ce-2712712

[Stefan Andersson]

On March 21, 90 mins. of excerpts were shown at the Cinematheque Francaise. Here is some info about music chosen for the excerpts:

1. La Marseillaise. Rouget de Lisle (Harry Krimer), Napoléon Bonaparte (Albert Dieudonné), Danton (Alexandre Koubitzky), Robespierre (Edmond Van Daële). Music: the orchestral arrangement of "La Marseillaise" by Hector Berlioz.
2. Siège de Toulon: l'attaque sous l'orage. Dugommier (Alexandre Philippe), Saliceti (Philippe Hériat), Samuel Hood (W. Percy Day). Music: P. I. Tchaikovsky: The Tempest (Буря).
3. La Terreur: la mort de Jean-Paul Marat (Antonin Artaud). Charlotte Corday (Marguerite Gance). Music: Anton Webern.
4. Mariage de Bonaparte. Joséphine de Beauharnais (Gina Manès). Music: Maurice Ravel.
5. The double wedding night. Besides Napoléon and Joséphine, Violine Fleuri (Annabella) also celebrates, fantasizing with Napoléon memorabilia. Music from Benjamin Godard's opera Jocelyn.
6. The Italian campaign. Napoléon instils a victorious spirit into the Grande Armée, and the screen explodes into Polyvision. Music: Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations.

Source:
https://anttialanenfilmdiary.blogspot.com/

[captveg]

Will go to Netflix after Cannes, but unclear if this is worldwide

It will be released in French cinemas at a later date and will be shown on France Télévisions and Netflix.

[Stefan Andersson]

More about the score:
https://www.diapasonmag.fr/a-la-une/le- ... OF6kdX-eDP

English subs created:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... &start=300 - see post May 3, 2024

[Stefan Andersson]

New info about the new restoration:
Part 1 runs 220 mins., part two 205 mins. (DCP)
Projection speed is 18 fps for the whole film (previously only for the Brienne sequence)
The Marsellaise has been synchronized with the actors´lips
The extra 90 minutes of the new restoration is only marginally new sequences, such as the civil war at the start of the Toulon siege (at the end of the first part)
The triptych was not actually part of the Apollo version but has been included
The triptych for the double storm sequence now only exists in a single screen format

Sources (in French):
https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/2169.html
https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/154798.html

[denti alligator]

The extra 90 minutes, in other words, includes the slowdown of projecting the whole thing at 18fps?

[Saturnome]

Weird how this new info make it seems the restoration doesn't have much new to offer.

[Roger Ryan]

The extra 90 minutes, in other words, includes the slowdown of projecting the whole thing at 18fps?

Or does it mean that some of the extra 90 minutes includes additional footage for previously seen sequences? In other words, only a couple (?) of totally new sequences, but also significant additional "new" footage interpolated into well-known sequences.