tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post8105717104255427064..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: Able Was I Ere I Saw ElbaSJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-62910228221717735602017-03-30T10:16:17.868-05:002017-03-30T10:16:17.868-05:00I agree that it's worth it. I think this could...I agree that it's worth it. I think this could stand a pretty hefty trim. There's no real need for this to be a four-hour movie when everything Gance wants to do could be easiliy done in 150 minutes. That's still a beefy movie, but getting us there would involve cutting 3 out of every 8 minutes, and those minutes are there to cut. <br /><br />I'd like to trim about half an hour out of the first two hours and another hour out of the next 90 minutes or so, leaving the ending virtually as it is. <br /><br />But hey, it's really worth seeing.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-9677285966700673022017-03-30T09:50:47.256-05:002017-03-30T09:50:47.256-05:00I've been wanting to see Abel Gance's Napo...I've been wanting to see Abel Gance's Napoleon for almost 30 years and I finally saw it, watching it in segments over the last few days.<br /><br />Long before I ever heard of the 1001 list (long before it ever existed, I think) I was working on another movie list. I had picked up a book called The 100 Greatest Movies (or something like that) and I decided to try to see all of them.<br /><br />The authors had polled 20 or 30 international film critics and used a point system to figure out which films to include and how to rank them. There were quite a few I had already seen (Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, Wizard of Oz ... I think I had already seen Fanny and Alexander), films I'd heard of but not yet seen (some Fellini, some Bergman, Monsieur Verdoux) and a bunch of films I'd never heard of (Hiroshima Mon Amour, Heimat, several Bunuel films).<br /><br />Little by little, I saw them and marked them off the list. I bought the book about 1990, to give you an idea how long I've been working on this list. <br /><br />(And I even flubbed my chance to see Napoleon in the 1990s when it was on A&E. It was scheduled at 1 am in the morning in a six-hour time slot. (I'm guessing the reason I didn't tape it was because I didn't want to deal with all those A&E commercials.) I watched the beginning and saw the whole snowball fight. Then I went to bed. I woke up a few hours later and watched the last hour or so. I remember thinking "Wow! This looks like a great movie. I think I made a big mistake not taping it. Oh well, I'll see it eventually." And I did. Twenty years later.)<br /><br />I got Netflix in 2006, and that helped a lot with the list! I think the first film from the list that I saw through Netflix was Tokyo Story, such a great film!<br /><br />So I eventually got it down to four films that you can't get from Netflix. I think that was about 2012. They were: Napoleon (1927), The World of Apu, The Life of O-Haru, and Voyage to Italy (with Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders).<br /><br />But one by one, I got those as well. O-Haru eventually showed up on Netflix. Voyage to Italy was on Cinemoi. I found The World of Apu on YouTube.<br /><br />And there it sat for a few years with Abel Gance's Napoleon as the only movie from that list I hadn't seen.<br /><br />(And after I saw Me and My Gal a few months ago, Napoleon was the only film on the 1001 list made before 1935 that I hadn't seen.)<br /><br />But now I've seen it and completed that particular list! YAY! I don't know the name of the Internet site I used because it's from Russia and they use the Cyrillic alphabet. But they were hosting the four-hour version with English inter-titles. A Russian guy would read the Russian translation of every English caption. And the print was a little muddy at times.<br /><br />But despite all that, it was well worth the trouble! What an amazing accomplishment for Gance. I would love to see it on a big screen someday, preferably in Paris or Toulon or Rochefort.<br /><br />I think it's kind of amusing that the actress playing Josephine looks like Thelma Todd. And the guy playing DeLisle (who wrote Le Marseillaise) looks like Dwight Frye.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17921029597363212734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-45691660270450513522011-03-10T15:29:41.745-06:002011-03-10T15:29:41.745-06:00I'm not planning on hitting La Roue for a few ...I'm not planning on hitting <i>La Roue</i> for a few months. I can only handle so many really long movies at a time (and I've just gotten a copy of another pretty long one).SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-52474501205803913182011-03-10T11:09:50.493-06:002011-03-10T11:09:50.493-06:00I just received La Roue today through Netflix - lo...I just received La Roue today through Netflix - looking forward to how it compares to Napoleon.Colby Mannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01075717683754554747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-88297277188451641072011-03-10T08:46:01.847-06:002011-03-10T08:46:01.847-06:00I have definitely seen it and was in awe. My last ...I have definitely seen it and was in awe. My last comment about the import is more of a observation on the availability on DVD in different formats, and I just hope that it's quality is as good as I expect it to be. Sure hope English is one of the language options.Ken Loarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17207009680910318145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-4626114858783871692011-03-09T19:00:39.870-06:002011-03-09T19:00:39.870-06:00@Klaus: I'm with you on the rewatching. I'...@Klaus: I'm with you on the rewatching. I'm not adverse to it, but right now, I think my time is better spent elsewhere.<br /><br />@Ken: I don't know what you'll think, but I was really pleasantly surprised by it. I'm curious to see your opinion on it.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-57606537130230095552011-03-09T13:19:20.773-06:002011-03-09T13:19:20.773-06:00I recently bought an "ALL REGIONS" Korea...I recently bought an "ALL REGIONS" Korean import (anything to save a buck)of this film and have not yet watched it.Ken Loarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17207009680910318145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-83048806546328675552011-03-09T13:16:10.130-06:002011-03-09T13:16:10.130-06:00It is a pretty remarkable piece of film making, an...It is a pretty remarkable piece of film making, and one of the longer silent films which really did capture my imagination - although I think La Roue is a marginally better film (at least I enjoyed it more). <br /><br />While i'm not ready to re-watch any of these silent epics yet, I think it will be interesting to revisit them with my new found patience toward these kinds of films. <br /><br />I was also wondering what the theatre experience might be like for these kinds of movies.Klaushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05006608076041962884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-60810939900621193142011-03-09T12:12:12.041-06:002011-03-09T12:12:12.041-06:00Ken--I need to start going into these films with l...Ken--I need to start going into these films with less of a pre-conceived notion of what to expect. <br /><br />I'm with you on Gance over Griffith. More of one, less of the other!<br /><br />Gance's penchant for keeping the audience in its collective seat appears to be something he shared with a number of other silent directors. There's no shortage of long silents on The List.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-85070931740304842011-03-09T10:36:35.029-06:002011-03-09T10:36:35.029-06:00I've seen many dump on this movie. I first lea...I've seen many dump on this movie. I first learned of it when Coppola release it in the 90s and was amazed. Since then I have looked for other Abel Gance films and feel that he learned a lot from and even surpassed Griffith. I'm sure you are ready for "La Roue" as it is the only other Gance film in THE BOOK, but I feel his film "J'Accuse"(1919) is unjustifiably absent. He was one of the truly great artistic silent film makers. I have not had a chance to look into his sound films. Only down side to Gance I have found so far is, that he had no qualms about keeping his audience in the theater for 3 + hours.Ken Loarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17207009680910318145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-30696181205896816052011-03-09T08:45:52.091-06:002011-03-09T08:45:52.091-06:00@Kevin:
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.
Was it a c...@Kevin:<br />A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.<br />Was it a car or a cat I saw?<br /><br />@Dave:<br />And again, I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe I should expect to hate everything, because I keep getting films that are far better than I expect them to be. It's such a nice feeling to like something more than I think I will.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-88365813860520412672011-03-09T03:05:41.524-06:002011-03-09T03:05:41.524-06:00I saw this about 20 years ago (I believe it was on...I saw this about 20 years ago (I believe it was on Public Television) and I loved it. I've been waiting for this film to arrive on DVD...it's one of my "most-wanted".DVD Infatuationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02986606131886453883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-63382610971029394252011-03-09T00:43:00.298-06:002011-03-09T00:43:00.298-06:00"Madam, I'm Adam."
"Eve."..."Madam, I'm Adam."<br /><br />"Eve."<br /><br />What a name, eh? Albert Dieudonné (God-given)!Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.com