Gance’s Napoleon Enters The Home Stretch.

I meant to mention this a few days ago, but completely forgot.

As regular readers will no doubt be aware, we’ve been tracing the path to restoration and reissue of Abel Gance’s Napoleon for some time now. In fact, we’ve essentially been talking about Kevin Brownlow’s crusade to rescue the picture for the vast majority of Hope Lies at 24 Frames Per Second’s lifetime.

While the film will never truly be complete the restoration process is drawing to a close now, with the film set for a major UK theatrical exhibition tour. Announced just last week was the Picturehouse chain’s exciting and ambitious plans to screen the film throughout it’s cinemas in November, ahead of the home video release of the picture. Quite how the film will play in a regular auditorium, void of Gance’s Triptych remains to be seen (as does how it will play in the home), but that’s all part of the fun at this stage. A wholehearted recommendation ought to go without saying: there’s no spectacle like it.

More information on the Picturehouse screenings can be found here. The film also screens at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on November 6. The Blu-ray edition can be pre-ordered now. It’s worth noting that a rival restoration of Gance’s Napoleon, a collaboration between the Cinematheque Francaise and Francis Ford Coppola, is forthcoming. There’s a fantastic charting of the film’s history here.