A Revolution for the Screen : : Abel Gance's Napoleon / / Paul Cuff.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter AUP eBook Package Backlist 2015-2017
• VerfasserIn: Cuff, Paul,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Film Culture in Transition
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.) :; 40 halftones

Abel Gance’s silent masterpiece, Napoleon, was given a limited run on its debut in 1927, but soon afterwards distributors in France and America, unwilling to deal with its nine-hour running time, subjected it to savage cuts—with devastating results for the movie and for film history. The struggle across ensuing decades to restore and reintegrate Gance’s film has formed a backdrop to an array of formal, contextual, and ideological battles. In this book, Paul Cuff takes account of those battles and challenges received opinion on Gance’s view of both his film and its subject.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of contents -- List of illustrations -- Note on formatting -- Acknowledgements -- Foreword -- Preface: Critical perspective -- 1. Napoleonic ambition and historical imagination -- 2. Shaping expectations: The young Napoléon Bonaparte -- 3. Civilization and savagery: Visions of the French Revolution -- 4. Mortal gods: Voices of power and of providence -- 5. The dark light of Napoleonic cinema -- 6. A view from the margins of history -- 7. Melodrama and the formulations of family -- 8. Worlds in transition: Class, consumption, corruption -- 9. Death and transfiguration -- Conclusion: The case for enthusiasm -- Filmography and bibliography -- Index