Abel Gance(1889-1981)
- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Born an illegitimate son of a wealthy physician, Abel Flamant, and a
working class mother, Francoise Perethon. He was raised by his mother
and her boyfriend, who later became her husband, Adolphe Gance.
Pressured by his parents, he began his working career as a lawyer's
clerk in hopes of achieving a prosperous career in law. But his passion
for the theatre lured him to the stage and at 19 he made his stage
debut in Brussels. Within a year, after returning to Paris, he made his
screen debut as an actor in Moliere (1909). He made other film
appearances in minor roles as well as taking a crack at screen-writing.
Living in poverty during this period in his life, he suffered from
starvation and tuberculosis. But he regained strength enough to form a
production company in 1911, and made his debut as a director that same
year with La Digue (1911). However, like the rest of his early films,
it was unsuccessful and as a consequence, he returned to the stage with
a five-hour long play, Victoire de Samothrace, which he wrote himself.
It was due to be a success with Sarah Bernhardt in the lead role, but
the sudden outbreak of WWI canceled the premiere.
Due to his ill health he was kept out of most of the war. During this
time he managed to achieve a profitable status at the Film d'Arte
company as a director. He turned out such successful films as Mater
Dolorosa (1917) and La Dixieme Symphonie (1918), but he gained a
reputation at Film d'Arte as a wild experimentalist - using such
outlandish techniques for the time as close-ups and dolly shots. As a
consequence, he was frequently at odds with the management. At the
point of being one of the most well known film directors in France, he
entered the tail end of WWI. He was discharged shortly after due to
mustard gas poisoning. But he requested that he be redrafted so that he
could shoot on-location battle scenes for his latest idea for a film
J'accuse! (1919). The three-hour long, triangular melodrama
about the "futility of war" became a box-office smash all over Europe.
It was Europe's first fictional film to show authentic footage of the
catastrophes of war. Being an experimentalist, he employed a rapid
cutting technique that is said to have influenced such Russian
filmmakers as Sergei Eisenstein and Pudovkin.
During the making of his next film, The Wheel (1923), he and his second
wife, Ida Danis, fell ill with the flu. Although he recovered and
worked on the film in stages, his wife did not - she died shortly
before the film's release. Grieved by death of his wife and friend,
actor Severin Mars, who starred in many of his films, he fled Europe
and sailed to America. The trip turned out to be a nationwide promotion
of I Accuse. He recalls that he did not like the Hollywood filmmaking
system and refused an offer from MGM to direct for a hefty sum. The
happiest moment was D.W. Griffith's praise of I Accuse at a screening
in New York.
Returning to France, Gance released the final cut of La Roue to much
acclaim, especially for its montage sequence. His most important and
outstanding film is Napoleon (1927).
Considered to be a dictionary of all the techniques of the silent film
era and an introduction to some techniques to come. It was shot using a
three-camera panoramic process that involves the use of three
projectors and a curved windscreen to create a deep, vast panoramic
look. A couple thousand extras were used to fill the shots. Being the
experimentalist that he was, he shot scenes in color, more than a
decade before Hollywood would make
The Wizard of Oz (1939) and
Gone with the Wind (1939) in
color, and in 3-D. But he decided against incorporating them into the
film in fear that they would jar the audience's attention. The film
received a standing ovation the night of its premiere at the Paris
Opera. It was then shown only in 8 European cities due to the expensive
and technical apparatus and large size theatre needed to project the
film. In the US, MGM purchased the distribution rights and elected not
to show the film using the three projector windscreen equipment,
claiming that it would interfere with the introduction of sound.
Nonetheless, that doesn't explain why MGM decided to drastically cut
the film and rearrange it. As a consequence, the general release in the
US was a not a success, audiences laughed at the film and critics
panned it. It was the last film of Gance's career that was to possess
that magnitude of creativeness. His sound films were mainly done for
studios, where he lacked the ability to be creative. He would return to
Napoleon a couple times in his career. In 1934 he added stereophonic
sound effects to the original film using a Pictographe. He had
criticized film historians throughout the rest of his life for not
giving his film Napoleon (1927) the
attention it deserves. Finally, British director Kevin Brownlow spent
two decades doing the arduous task of putting the film back together in
its original format. It was first screened in London using the three
projector format with a score composed and conducted by Carl Davis in
1979. Francis Ford Coppola produced the screenings at the Radio City
Hall in the US, in 1981 to much acclaim. His father Carmine Coppola,
composed and conducted the score in the US. Finally,
Napoleon (1927) and its director
received the respect they deserve.
working class mother, Francoise Perethon. He was raised by his mother
and her boyfriend, who later became her husband, Adolphe Gance.
Pressured by his parents, he began his working career as a lawyer's
clerk in hopes of achieving a prosperous career in law. But his passion
for the theatre lured him to the stage and at 19 he made his stage
debut in Brussels. Within a year, after returning to Paris, he made his
screen debut as an actor in Moliere (1909). He made other film
appearances in minor roles as well as taking a crack at screen-writing.
Living in poverty during this period in his life, he suffered from
starvation and tuberculosis. But he regained strength enough to form a
production company in 1911, and made his debut as a director that same
year with La Digue (1911). However, like the rest of his early films,
it was unsuccessful and as a consequence, he returned to the stage with
a five-hour long play, Victoire de Samothrace, which he wrote himself.
It was due to be a success with Sarah Bernhardt in the lead role, but
the sudden outbreak of WWI canceled the premiere.
Due to his ill health he was kept out of most of the war. During this
time he managed to achieve a profitable status at the Film d'Arte
company as a director. He turned out such successful films as Mater
Dolorosa (1917) and La Dixieme Symphonie (1918), but he gained a
reputation at Film d'Arte as a wild experimentalist - using such
outlandish techniques for the time as close-ups and dolly shots. As a
consequence, he was frequently at odds with the management. At the
point of being one of the most well known film directors in France, he
entered the tail end of WWI. He was discharged shortly after due to
mustard gas poisoning. But he requested that he be redrafted so that he
could shoot on-location battle scenes for his latest idea for a film
J'accuse! (1919). The three-hour long, triangular melodrama
about the "futility of war" became a box-office smash all over Europe.
It was Europe's first fictional film to show authentic footage of the
catastrophes of war. Being an experimentalist, he employed a rapid
cutting technique that is said to have influenced such Russian
filmmakers as Sergei Eisenstein and Pudovkin.
During the making of his next film, The Wheel (1923), he and his second
wife, Ida Danis, fell ill with the flu. Although he recovered and
worked on the film in stages, his wife did not - she died shortly
before the film's release. Grieved by death of his wife and friend,
actor Severin Mars, who starred in many of his films, he fled Europe
and sailed to America. The trip turned out to be a nationwide promotion
of I Accuse. He recalls that he did not like the Hollywood filmmaking
system and refused an offer from MGM to direct for a hefty sum. The
happiest moment was D.W. Griffith's praise of I Accuse at a screening
in New York.
Returning to France, Gance released the final cut of La Roue to much
acclaim, especially for its montage sequence. His most important and
outstanding film is Napoleon (1927).
Considered to be a dictionary of all the techniques of the silent film
era and an introduction to some techniques to come. It was shot using a
three-camera panoramic process that involves the use of three
projectors and a curved windscreen to create a deep, vast panoramic
look. A couple thousand extras were used to fill the shots. Being the
experimentalist that he was, he shot scenes in color, more than a
decade before Hollywood would make
The Wizard of Oz (1939) and
Gone with the Wind (1939) in
color, and in 3-D. But he decided against incorporating them into the
film in fear that they would jar the audience's attention. The film
received a standing ovation the night of its premiere at the Paris
Opera. It was then shown only in 8 European cities due to the expensive
and technical apparatus and large size theatre needed to project the
film. In the US, MGM purchased the distribution rights and elected not
to show the film using the three projector windscreen equipment,
claiming that it would interfere with the introduction of sound.
Nonetheless, that doesn't explain why MGM decided to drastically cut
the film and rearrange it. As a consequence, the general release in the
US was a not a success, audiences laughed at the film and critics
panned it. It was the last film of Gance's career that was to possess
that magnitude of creativeness. His sound films were mainly done for
studios, where he lacked the ability to be creative. He would return to
Napoleon a couple times in his career. In 1934 he added stereophonic
sound effects to the original film using a Pictographe. He had
criticized film historians throughout the rest of his life for not
giving his film Napoleon (1927) the
attention it deserves. Finally, British director Kevin Brownlow spent
two decades doing the arduous task of putting the film back together in
its original format. It was first screened in London using the three
projector format with a score composed and conducted by Carl Davis in
1979. Francis Ford Coppola produced the screenings at the Radio City
Hall in the US, in 1981 to much acclaim. His father Carmine Coppola,
composed and conducted the score in the US. Finally,
Napoleon (1927) and its director
received the respect they deserve.