311: Napoleon (1927)

[00:00:00] Chapter 22 Classic Film Early Military Career 1927, Film Buds, Film Buds Nation Chapter 22 Epic as it was going in, I was aware that it was a silent movie and it was a bit of

[00:01:39] an epic to a degree, but I didn't know that it was five and a half hours long and the original idea was to do six of these movies chronicling Napoleon's life. Sadly, that didn't happen. We only got this one.

[00:01:55] And being a fan of history, lover of history, Napoleon is a big, big figure in military history of course, and he's someone I've always found to be very interesting and the Ridley Scott film definitely reignited my interest in him and I'm actually reading a biography

[00:02:12] of him right now. This movie, it is, it's hard to even really talk about, it's one of those like, talking about film spectacle, this one has most movies beat of all time. It was one of the most insane experiences, even just watching it at home is crazy.

[00:02:33] This came out almost a hundred years ago, which is insane to think about and it was way ahead of its time. It uses cross cutting, rapid cutting, this three camera technique that was basically the

[00:02:45] original version of IMAX, split screens, you name it, this movie was so ahead of its time and it was really the last silent epic that was ever made in any country, because this was right around the time that sound film came.

[00:03:01] So this one sort of got swept under the rug. People are like, oh well, sound is here, doesn't really matter anymore, see ya. But it is one of the best silent and early films that I've ever seen in any sort of genre or style.

[00:03:17] The amount of, once again, spectacle and the scale, the amount of extras, the special effects for that time and the direction is unparalleled. It's hard to really fully describe it or give it due justice without actually having watched it.

[00:03:34] And also, it is not a movie for everyone, obviously, it's a five and a half hour French silent movie about Napoleon Bonaparte, but if you can get into it, if you want to give

[00:03:45] it a chance, if you're curious, hey, if you have to watch it in five sittings, I didn't watch it in one sitting. I would like to see it in a theater if that was ever a possibility, but I could not believe

[00:03:57] how amazing and how huge and rich this movie was while also keeping a lot of personal intimacy in terms of the storytelling. There's a lot of romance away from the military life, his childhood, but there's also tons of action, crazy action, big action.

[00:04:17] So it's a movie that definitely does not get made anymore. Maybe the four hour Napoleon director's cut will be sort of in the same vein, but definitely in terms of the time period, being a silent film and incorporating so many very modern,

[00:04:34] like modern for now, elements and styles of filmmaking, it's really unlike anything else. I could not sell it enough and it's not one you want to just pop on. You got to be in the right mood.

[00:04:45] You got to have five and a half hours or more to sit down and watch and really get invested in it. It's like most silent movies now, you kind of have to put in the time in order to get

[00:04:57] a lot out of it because of the style, of course, but absolutely worth watching, especially if you are interested in military history, in epics, silent film, Napoleon, anything like that, give it a shot. It is amazing. That is a five out of five.