MovieChat Forums > Napoléon vu par Abel Gance (1929) Discussion > THIS MOVIE IS REALLY *beep* WIDE!!!!

THIS MOVIE IS REALLY beep WIDE!!!!

posted 19 years ago by bermy88-1
10 replies | jump to latest

4:1!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH! That's 3 times as wide as a tv. What was the director thinking? There is such a thing as too wide. I am prefectly comfortable with 2.40:1, but anything above that seems to be pushing it. Are there any movies that even have 3:1 or above? And this movie was made in the 20's, which means that they just decided to make it that wide, before it was conventional to do 2:1, they just up and decided to go extremely wide.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] michaellong13 19 years ago

On a related note, the 1959 version of "Ben-Hur" starring Charlton Heston was shot in 2.76:1, which is still wider than the normally used 2.35:1. This particular version of the film is currently available in the 4-disc Collector's Editon, for anyone who's interested.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Grendalpr 18 years ago

dude,

this film was made before television was invented...

the tryptich scenes are, without doubt, the most amazing experience you will have in a cinema (with your clothes on)

[–] AndromedaRoach 18 years ago

Not a film, and not for the finale, but nevertheless:

http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/flashback

...way too much historical significance to be shown in anything but WIDESCREEEEEEEEEEEEN. Left side: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAH! Right side: WOOOOOAHH—

This plus the in-sance runtime make this movie look like an absolute cow of an experience for an aspiring filmmaker. Coming from the wild old days when the code was "more like general guidelines" and a man with vision would just do whatever he felt needed to be done to get it on screen....

The cockroach is a noble beast....

[–] Saturnome 18 years ago

That widescreen scene (let's say a triptych instead)is quite long, half an hour if I'm right (of course, in a four hour film, it's not very much), but as if the movie wasn't epic enough, this final is incredible, Napoleon is the most EPIC film I've ever seen. More epic would require 1 000 000 roman soliders in battle during an earthquake with Tchaikovsky's 1812 ouverture playing, in 3-D and with real actors in the theater trying to kill the spectators.

Of course, watching it on VHS at home isn't the best experience as the 4:1 picture is incredibly small (I almost had my nose on the screen), but when it's the only option avaible, it's better than nothing, and was enough to convince me that it is one of the best epic film ever made.

Now I suggest some kidnapping of members of the Coppola's family in order to get the new restored version avaible, and not only on VHS but on glorious DVD.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Bry-2 17 years ago

It's only the final, triptyche (sp?) sequence that's 4:1, the rest is normal 1.33:1. IIRC it lasts about 20 minutes -- which, by the time it rolls around, does not seem long enough by half. I remember wanting to enroll in the French Foreign Legion when the film was over!

Even on HD-DVD and a HUGE TV, it won't compare to the live-in-the-theatre-with-an-orchestra experience I had in 1981.

IF it's ever released on DVD, I hope there are at least three soundtracks: the Carmine Coppola music, the Carl Davis score(is that right? I think he wrote a score for the European audience in '80/'81), one from Gance's notebooks, and maybe a special new score by Gillian Anderson or Phillip Glass... not to mention commentary by Kevin Brownlow, Francis Coppola, Scorsese, and anyone else who's interested...

[–] icet2004 17 years ago

this is the birth on modern film making.the best movie of all time.
Abel Gance is the greatest director ever from france.

[–] 17 years ago

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