Napoleon Restored!
We’ve always wanted to release a definitive edition of Abel Gance’s silent masterpiece
Napoleon. And we hope to one day, but it’s a project of enormous complexity. American audiences will finally have a chance to see the epic film in its fullest form this month at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. Restorer extraordinaire Kevin Brownlow has had a lifelong passion for
Napoleon, hours of which were cut after its 1927 premiere. He’s been gradually reconstructing it for decades. The first unveiling in the U.S. of the results of his Herculean effort took place at the Telluride Film Festival in 1979. In the ensuing years, Brownlow unearthed and added another hour-plus of footage. The screenings at the Paramount—on March 24, 25, and 31 and April 1—will be of the most complete version ever seen in the U.S., at five and a half hours, and will feature the premiere live performance in this country of composer Carl Davis’s original score.