NAPOLEON

Some are saying it's the movie event of the year, and they might not be wrong. As complete a restoration possible of the five-and-a-half hour cut of the silent film, with a new score composed and conducted by Carl Davis. With the intermissions and dinner break it took the day to get through

BUT


It was a day well-spent. The restoration is lovely, and the film is always engaging. Actually, for a 1927 film its cinematography and filmmaking techniques are bracingly modern - filmmaker Abel Gance was taking editing strategies to remarkable extremes, and his behind-the-scenes work (including building new cameras and mounts) matched his on-screen ambitions. One wonders what his full epic would have been like (or how it would even be experienced - what we have is just part one of a projected six-part mega-epic), but what survives (and has been restored) is extraordinary.

You got another weekend to see it, and tickets are likely going fast.