Film director Abel Gance's legendary 1927 silent epic NAPOLEON has been completely restored by Academy Award-winning documentarian, historian and archivist Kevin Brownlow. There will be two weekend screenings at Oakland's Paramount Theatre on March 24th and 25th, and March 31st and April 1st. Presented by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the event also marks the U.S. premiere of the orchestral score by composer Carl Davis who will conduct the Oakland East Bay Symphony. It is the first time in nearly 30 years since NAPOLEON in any form has been screened in America with full orchestra. The Carl Davis score may be the longest continuous film music ever composed and conducted.
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival's spectacular presentation at the 3,000-seat, Art Deco Oakland Paramount will be climaxed by film's original "Polyvision" finale, with the screen dramatically expanding to triple its width to offer both panoramic views and multiple images. (25 years after NAPOLEON's release, the American process Cinerama would employ a very similar system, but without Gance's virtuosic use of the three screens). To re-create Polyvision for the four NAPOLEON screenings, the Paramount is being fitted with three projection booths equipped with three perfectly-synchronized projectors, all specially installed by a three-man team from technical specialists Boston Light & Sound.
NAPOLEON has not been shown in the U.S. with full orchestra and its Polyvision finale since the early 1980s, when Francis Ford Coppola sponsored a triumphant road show of a shorter version, with a score by his father Carmine. That version ran just under 4 hours; Brownlow's longer reconstruction runs 5 1/2 hours, thanks to about 50 minutes of additional footage located in the intervening years and by the film being run at the proper speed.
The restoration, produced by Brownlow with his Photoplay Productions partner Patrick Stanbury in association with the BFI, is the most complete version of Gance's masterpiece since its 1927 premiere at the Paris Opéra. This is undoubtedly the U.S. film world's longest-anticipated event: because of the enormous expense and technical challenges of properly presenting the epic film, it has taken Brownlow and company three decades to mount American screenings with the magnificent Davis score, which has been performed only in Europe and not since 2004.
Brownlow, the only film historian ever honored with a special Academy Award, became fascinated with Gance's film when still a schoolboy in London in the 1950s. "I was stunned by the cinematic flair," says Brownlow. "I was exhilarated by the rapid cutting and the swirling camera movement. What daring! I had never seen anything comparable - and I set out to find more of it." That determination led to a lifelong quest. Starting with a few minutes of the film in a home movie format (the now-defunct 9.5mm), he has spent the better part of five decades putting Gance's masterpiece back together again. (The version released here by MGM in the late 1920s ran less than 90 minutes!)
The first major Brownlow/BFI restoration culminated in a screening at Telluride Film Festival in 1979, with 89-year-old Gance watching from a nearby hotel window. Under the auspices of Coppola and Robert A. Harris, a version of this restoration ran at Radio City Music Hall and other venues in the U.S. and around the world in the early 1980s. Brownlow did additional restoration work in 1983.
The restoration reclaims additional footage culled from archives around the world and visually upgrades much of the film. This unique 35mm print (it is the only copy in existence) uses the original dye-bath techniques, accurately recreating the color tints and tones of the initial release prints and giving a vividness to the image as never before experienced in this country. There are no plans to repeat this event in any other city, nor to release the restored version on DVD, BluRay, or television.
Each screening will begin in the afternoon and will be shown in four parts with three intermissions, including a dinner break. Tickets are now available online through the SFSFF website. Click here to order: NAPOLEON
About Composer/conductor Carl Davis
Maestro Carl Davis was born in New York in 1936 and came to the U.K. in 1960. Davis is a true music-maker and all-round musician, as both conductor and composer. He has changed the face of concerts as we know them, making classical music both accessible and varied and is a consummate showman and entertainer. His career has spanned many genres, from silent film performances to his popular themed concerts such as ''An Evening with James Bond" and "Oscar Winners". He is perhaps most well known for his music for television including the series The World At War, BBC's Pride & Prejudice, ITV's Goodnight Mr. Tom, and the award-winning film The French Lieutenant's Woman. For over 30 years, he's been a frequent collaborator with Kevin Brownlow, both as the composer of the soundtrack music for such acclaimed documentaries as Hollywood, The Unknown Chaplin, and Cinema Europe, and as the composer/conductor of such "live cinema" events as Ben-Hur, The Wind, Flesh and the Devil, and many others. He considers his Napoleon score one of his proudest achievements.
RELATED EVENTS
KEVIN BROWNLOW AT THE PFA: Kevin Brownlow will give an illustrated talk on his five-decade saga of restoring NAPOLEON on Friday, March 30th at the Pacific Film Archive Theater. Click here to order tickets on-line: PFA
GALA DINNER AT OAKLAND PARAMOUNT. On Friday, March 23rd, a Gala Dinner and Reception will be held in the spectacular Grand Lobby of the Oakland Paramount, with special guests Kevin Brownlow, Patrick Stanbury, Carl Davis, Alexander Payne, and the Consul General of France, among others. The reception will be followed by a three-course dinner prepared by Kelsie Kerr (former Chez Panisse chef and director of Cavallo Point Cooking School). Click here to order the Gala Event Package on-line: GALA
POSTER SIGNING. Legendary illustrator Paul Davis, who created the stunning poster for the event (click on the photo to view), will sign copies of the poster at the Oakland Paramount on Sunday, March 25th, from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm. Admission to the signing is free.
