Abel Gance

A biopic of former Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant 1797 invasion of Italy.

A man travels to the remote and decaying mansion of his old friend Roderick Usher, who lives in isolation with his mysterious and gravely ill wife, Madeleine. As the strange atmosphere surrounding the Usher family grows increasingly unsettling, the visitor finds himself drawn into their world of obsession, illness, and supernatural dread.

Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult, Sisif grapples with whether to tell Norma the truth about her parentage.

A re-edited version of Napoléon (1927), with added sound effects, post-dubbed dialogue, and new scenes with new cast members.

The Novalic brothers, Jean and Martial, are both in love with Genevieve. Jean, an impoverished actor and an idealistic dreamer, does not want Genevieve to share in his suffering. Martial, an internationally-respected astronomer, discovers the return of Lexell's Comet, on a collision course for Earth.

BBC documentary on the long and flamboyant career of French filmmaker Abel Gance.

Blaise Cendrars' AUTOUR DE LA ROUE (1923), a behind-the-scenes short documenting the production.

The life and work of Abel Gance as told by himself. Includes extracts from many of his films and considers his contribution to the cinema.

A short silent documentary on the making of the 1931 Abel Gance directed film, "La Fin du Monde".

This documentary focuses on the making of the 235-minute, silent epic Napoleon, the masterpiece of French director/writer/actor Abel Gance. Napoleon showcased Gance's talents with the camera, his use of multiple-images (like a split screen), and his handling of crowded action scenes -- all brought forward in this documentary by his later assistant, Nelly Kaplan. While Gance was shooting Napoleon in 1925-26, he and his crew were also being filmed for a documentary titled Autour de Napoleon. The only extant reels from that documentary are included in this film, as well as views of Gance's unique "triptychs" -- three different scenes lined up side-by-side across a super-wide screen to convey the effect of a panorama, or of three separate interludes. Nelly Kaplan put together this documentary using old footage, such as Gance filming the famous snowball fight at the Brienne military school and still photographs and excerpts from Gance's production diaries.

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