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APOLEON BONAPARTE, in addition to his extensive influence on western history, has been an imposing presence in the history of film. As early as 1897, the Lumière Brothers produced the first recorded film depicting an incident from the life of Napoleon, Entrevue de Napoléon et du Pape (Interview between Napoleon and the Pope), a short, one-minute historical tableau directed by Georges Hatot. Since then, more than 200 actors have played the part of Napoleon in film and on television. As the French continued to produce silent short films illustrating various scenes from Napoleon's eventful life as the Nineteenth Century came to a close and the Twentieth Century began, the first non-French film devoted to Napoleon, Napoleone sull'isola di Elba (Napoleon on the Island of Elba), was produced in Italy in 1907—though the United States may make a somewhat slim claim to the first non-French Napoleonic film with American Mutoscope & Biograph's The Escaped Lunatic (1904), where the unbalanced title character is dressed as Napoleon. Soon after, the English became a member of the growing list of nations producing Napoleonic films in 1908, with Napoleon and the English Sailor, a film based on a supposedly true incident in 1809 where Napoleon released an English prisoner anxious to return home to his widowed mother. As silent films matured, full-length feature films with Napoleon as a character, often based on popular novels and plays, began to show up at the local theaters with increasing frequency. Brigadier Gerard (England, 1915) and The Fighting Eagle (1927) both based on stories and a play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scaramouche (1923), based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini, Madame Sans-Gêne (1924), based on the play by Émile Moreau and Victorien Sardou, and Glorious Betsy (1928), a partial talkie based on the play by Rida Johnson Young, being just a few of the more significant examples. But by far, the high point of Napoleonic films made during the silent era was undoubtedly Abel Gance's epic French production of Napoléon, starring Albert Dieudonné, released in 1927.
The silent film era came to a sudden close with the widespread introduction of sound pictures in 1928 and 1929, and Napoleon remained a popular character as audiences thrilled to the novelty of talking pictures. Glorious Betsy (1928), mentioned above, was only the second partial talkie feature film released by Warner Brothers after The Jazz Singer (1927), and it was quickly followed by the short talking picture, Napoleon's Barber, released by the Fox Film Corporation later that year. The first full-length talking picture with Napoleon as a character was Seven Faces, released by Fox in 1929.
From brief but significant roles in such pictures as The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), Hearts Divided (1936), Anthony Adverse (1936), and Napoleon ist an allem Schuld (Napoleon is to Blame for Everything) (Germany, 1938), to more substantial biopics such as Conquest (1937) and A Royal Divorce (England, 1938), Napoleon continued to maintain an active presence on film as the 1930s progressed. Hollywood and world cinema had always been somewhat ambivalent towards the Emperor, portraying him at various times as a hero, a despot, a lover, and even occasionally as a figure of fun, but as world events led up to the Second World War, the cinematic portrayal of Napoleon began to take on more ominous overtones. Adolf Hitler had been appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and his anti-Semitic rhetoric and expansionist aims were viewed with considerable alarm in certain parts of the world. In one of the earliest salvos in Hollywood's propaganda war against the Nazis, 20th Century Pictures released The House of Rothschild in 1934.
As the world inevitably descended into war, both sides used Napoleon to symbolize evil in their propaganda endeavors. In The Young Mr. Pitt (England, 1942), Napoleon (a young Herbert Lom, in his first English-language film) is portrayed as a glowering sociopath, anxious to engulf Europe in pursuit of his personal ambition—his chief opposition coming from the heroic, iron-willed English Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger (Robert Donat), despite the rumblings of a contentious Parliament. The parallels with Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill could hardly have been clearer. In 1944, German forces were still occupying Soviet soil, and the Russians hoped to keep up morale and encourage patriotic resistance with the 1944 release of Kutuzov, aka 1812. Utilizing men and resources that might better have been devoted to the war effort, Kutuzov is the inspiring story of General Kutuzov's (Aleksei Dikij) successful efforts to stymie Napoleon's (Semyon Mezhinsky) invasion of Russia. Although the propaganda is a bit more subtle than England's The Young Mr. Pitt, it isn't much of a stretch to equate the French attack of 1812 with the invasion of the German army in this wartime version of European history.
Seen in retrospect as a monumental waste of scarce wartime resources and manpower, Kolberg was Goebbels' ham-fisted attempt to inspire the beleaguered German populace to make one last stand for the Fatherland. Despite having meddled with the script, Goebbels was unhappy with director Veit Harlan's finished picture, and had it heavily edited to cut footage depicting the horrors of war. The result is a sometimes incoherent narrative that lacked any actual propaganda value, since most German theaters were closed by the time the film was released. Meanwhile, in occupied France, Napoleon was portrayed in a more benign light in such pictures as Madame Sans-Gêne (1941), a comedy with Albert Dieudonné reprising his celebrated role as Napoleon, and Le destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary aka Mlle. Desiree (1942), where a romantic Napoleon was portrayed in his younger years by Jean-Louis Barrault, and in his later years by the film's writer and director, Sacha Guitry. In Argentina, which remained neutral until the last stages of the war, Napoleon was also portrayed more favorably in their 1945 remake of Madame Sans-Gêne, with Eduardo Cuitiño as Napoleon. There weren’t many films made featuring Napoleon in the years immediately following World War II, a notable exception being director Sacha Guitry’s Le diable boiteux (The Lame Devil) (France, 1948), a biopic of the notoriously Machiavellian French diplomat, Talleyrand. Le diable boiteux gives the audience an overview of Talleyrand’s diplomatic career, from his sometimes subversive service to Napoleon (Émile Drain, who had made something of a career out of playing Napoleon, though he was perhaps getting a bit too old for the part) up through the restoration of the Bourbons under Louis XVIII, followed by Charles X and Louis-Philippe. Although the film is quite stagey, Guitry does a fine job in the title role.
During the Golden Age of Television, Napoleon showed up on such anthology series as Omnibus, in a segment entitled The Love Story of Napoleon aka Napoleon's Letters (1953), Schlitz Playhouse, in an episode recounting Conan Doyle’s tale, How the Brigadier Won His Medals (1954), You Are There, in an episode depicting The Abdication of Napoleon (1953) and another reenacting Napoleon’s Return From Elba (1955), and ITV Television Playhouse, in a new production of Shaw’s Man of Destiny (England, 1955). In the 1960s, Napoleon continued to show up in such made-for-TV productions as Madame Sans-Gêne, with two versions telecast in West Germany in 1960 and 1968, and yet another version in France in 1963, Eagle in a Cage, presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame episode in 1965, and Marie Waleska, broadcast in France in 1969, as well as putting in an occasional guest appearance on episodes of such TV series as Doctor Who (England, 1964), The Time Tunnel (1966), I Dream of Jeannie (1967), and Bewitched (1968).
Desirée, released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1954, was an early example of the widescreen historical epic. Adapted from Annemarie Selinko’s novel, the film told the story of Napleon’s (Marlon Brando) early romance with his sister-in-law, Desiree Clary (Jean Simmons), and their subsequent loves and careers up until Napoleon’s final downfall. Although there were no battle scenes, the colorful costumes, lavish sets, and high-profile stars gave the public a tempting alternative to the small black and white television screen back in their living rooms. Subsequent widescreen epics included such pictures as The Purple Mask (1955), with Tony Curtis as a wannabe Scarlet Pimpernel working against Robert Cornthwaite’s Napoleon, King Vidor’s War and Peace (1956), with Herbert Lom redefining his interpretation of the Emperor, and Abel Gance’s The Battle of Austerlitz aka Austerlitz (France, et al, 1960), a belated follow-up to his earlier silent-era masterpiece, with Pierre Mondy giving an excellent impersonation of Napoleon.
One of the finest as well as one of the most ambitious films set during the Napoleonic era was Mosfilm’s Voyna i mir (War and Peace), released in four parts from 1965 to 1967. Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, who also played Pierre Bezukhov, this sprawling adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic novel took seven years to film and employed a reported 120,000 extras. Although his screen time was limited, Vladislav Strzhelchik made for an imposing and memorable Napoleon. Director Bondarchuk brought Napoleon back to the screen once more, in the person of actor Rod Steiger, for 1970’s Waterloo (Italy/Soviet Union). Again using thousands of extras for the battle scenes, Waterloo is a mostly faithful account of Napoleon’s final battle. The movie tanked at the box office, but is a particular favorite among history buffs and armchair generals.
Napoleon was played for laughs at the theater throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s. The Adventures of Gerard (England/Switzerland, 1970) was a somewhat misguided retelling of Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories, with an amusing Eli Wallach hamming it up as the Emperor. Love and Death (France/United States, 1975) was Woody Allen’s answer to War and Peace, with his character Boris Grushenko conspiring with Diane Keaton’s Sonja to assassinate James Tolkan’s Napoleon. Le avventure e gli amori di Scaramouche (The Loves and Times of Scaramouche) (Italy/West Germany/Yugoslavia, 1976) had an inept and vainglorious Napoleon (Aldo Maccione) being cuckolded by the title character, who stumbled upon the comely Josephine (Ursula Andress) while she was bathing in a pond. Time Bandits (England, 1981) saw time traveling dwarfs stopping for a brief visit with Ian Holm’s easily amused Napoleon. And who could forget the spectacle of Napoleon (Terry Camilleri) enjoying a day at the water park, pigging out on ice cream, and then getting ditched at a bowling alley in 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure? During this same period Napoleon fared a bit better on TV, with such serious entries as the BBC’s War & Peace (England, 1972), an expansive, seventeen-episode version of Tolstoy’s novel, with David Swift as Napoleon, Napoleon and Love (England, 1974), a nine-episode series from Thames Television giving an inside look at Napoleon’s (Ian Holm) love life, and Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987), a three-part mini-series broadcast on ABC, starring Armand Assante as Napoleon and Jacqueline Bisset as Josephine.
Napoleon continues to be popular in film and television well into the 21st Century. Verne Troyer played a ludicrous Napoleon in several episodes of the farcical TV program, Jack of All Trades (2001), and Ian Holm again played the role in the gentle comedy, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Italy/England/Germany, 2001). Alex Norton had a few brief but commanding scenes as Napoleon in the 2002 remake of The Count of Monte Cristo (England/United States/Ireland), Christian Clavier gave a somewhat tepid performance in the 2002 international TV mini-series Napoléon, Philippe Torreton was a surprisingly effective Napoleon in 2003’s Monsieur N. (France/England), an engaging speculation regarding Napoleon’s exile on St. Helena, Daniel Auteuil played a charismatic, though ultimately untrustworthy Napoleon during his first exile on the island of Elba in N (Io e Napoleone) aka Napoleon and Me (Italy/Spain/France, 2006), and Tom Burke played the ambitious young Bonaparte at Toulon in the Napoleon episode of the BBC’s Heroes and Villains aka Warriors series in 2007. According to media reports, Napoleon will continue to be a presence at the cinema as the new decade progresses. There are reportedly two movies in development that will re-tell the story of Napoleon and the young Betsy Balcombe on the island of St. Helena, and there is talk of an attempt to bring Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories to a modern movie-going audience, with the Emperor playing a prominent role. But should none of these projects ever come to fruition, if the history of cinema tells us anything, it tells us that Napoleon will return. For while the Emperor may have died nearly alone and friendless in exile, his screen presence continues to fascinate audiences nearly two hundred years later. |
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his filmography lists only those films and TV shows where Napoleon actually appears, however briefly or fancifully. Please click on title links to go to a page devoted to each film or program listed. The story synopses abound with spoilers, so please consider this fair warning. How the Brigadier Won His Medals, Schlitz Playhouse (1954) Hundert Tage (Hundred Days) (1935) |
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Introduction Auteuil, Daniel Introduction Introduction Barwyn, Max   The Fighting Eagle (1927) Bertheau, Julien Introduction Boyer, Charles Introduction Brando, Marlon Introduction Burke, Tom Introduction Introduction Clavier, Christian Introduction Colman, Booth How the Brigadier Won His Medals, Schlitz Playhouse (1954) Cook, Ron Introduction Cuitiño, Eduardo Introduction Introduction Drain, Émile Introduction Le Brigadier Gérard (1928), see: The Fighting Eagle (1927) Madame Sans-Gêne (1924) Grenadier Roland (Il granatiere Roland) (1911) Introduction Guitry, Sacha Introduction Introduction Holm, Ian Introduction Holoubek, Gustaw Introduction Howard, Trevor Introduction Humphrey, William Introduction Are We Civilized? (1934) Hundert Tage (Hundred Days) (1935) Introduction War and Peace (1956) Lorette, Jean Madame Sans-Gêne (1924) Introduction Mezhinsky, Semyon Introduction Kutuzov aka 1812 (1944) Mihályi, Ernö Háry János (1941) Mondy, Pierre Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Shapiro, Louis Introduction Stahl-Nachbaur, Ernst Introduction Steiger, Rod Introduction Strzhelchik, Vladislav Introduction Swift, David Introduction The Time Tunnel: Reign of Terror (1966) Tolkan, James Introduction Torreton, Philippe Introduction Troyer, Verne Introduction Introduction |
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ere are some of my favorite Napoleon links: J. David Markham, Napoleonic History International Napoleonic Society Armchair General Napoleonic Era Forum The Napoleon Series |
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© 2010 by Clark J. Holloway. |