Napoléon by Abel Gance (Silent Film 1927 - RESTORED) | First Epoch (Part 1)

Napoléon is a 1927 French silent epic historical film, produced, and directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon's early years. It is also the only film to use Polyvision (for the finale).

On screen, the title is Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, meaning "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance". Part 2: https://rumble.com/v45eh88-napolon-by-abel-gance-silent-film-1927-restored-second-epoch-part-2.html

The film is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects. The film used the Keller-Dorian cinematography for its color sequences.

Gance planned for Napoléon to be the first of six films about Napoleon's career, a chronology of great triumph and defeat ending in Napoleon's death in exile on the island of Saint Helena. After the difficulties encountered in making the first film, Gance realised that the costs involved would make the full project impossible.

Primary Cast:
Albert Dieudonné as Napoléon
Vladimir Roudenko as Napoléon Bonaparte (child)
Edmond Van Daële as Maximilien Robespierre
Alexandre Koubitzky as Georges Danton
Antonin Artaud as Jean-Paul Marat
Abel Gance as Louis de Saint-Just
Gina Manès as Joséphine de Beauharnais
Marguerite Gance as Charlotte Corday
Yvette Dieudonné as Élisa Bonaparte
Philippe Hériat as Antoine Saliceti
Max Maxudian as Barras
Annabella as Violine Fleuri
Nicolas Koline as Tristan Fleuri
Maurice Schutz as Pasquale Paoli
Andrée Standart as Thérèse Tallien
Suzy Vernon as Madame Récamier
Petit Vidal as Phélippeaux
Francine Mussey as Lucile Desmoulins
Robert Vidalin as Camille Desmoulins
Louis Vonelly as Couthon
Jean d'Yd as La Bussière
René Jeanne as Jean-Charles Pichegru
Henri Beaulieu as Beaumarchais