This 5 ½ hour-long French silent masterwork is an undisputed milestone of its era, telling the story of one of the most famous military leaders in history with eye-opening innovation that still remains startling today.

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I’ve been wanting to see this for the longest time having heard of its legend, and I wasn’t a tiny bit disappointed.  If there’s a gripe, it would be its long runtime, at 5 ½ hours, which I needed to tackle in several sittings. 

But director Abel Gance, the French answer’s to D.W. Griffith, told the story in four quite digestible acts, with timely intermissions to boot.  The result is a stunning silent masterwork that is up there as one of the greatest films in history, and not just in the silent era. 

Viewing it now, nearly a century later, it is firstly a blessing to still be able to see something like this so meticulously restored, and re-scored with new music by Carl Davis. 

It is also startling to see some of the eye-opening innovations on display such as the use of handheld cameras, and in the famous three-camera triptych sequence in the final reel of the film, a super widescreen aspect ratio of 4.00:1 that gives a panoramic view of Napoleon’s invasion of Italy (this pre-dating Cinerama by decades). 

From a narrative point-of-view, Gance’s work mostly covers Napoleon’s time as a rising commander during the French Revolution and the various political and military obstacles he had to face and endure. 

It gives a grandiose sweep of his personal story set against the larger sociopolitics of the time, though even at such a lengthy runtime, the film is still more interested in historical breadth than character depth, which some might find an issue. 

Still, it doesn’t get any more epic than Napoleon, and the way Davis weaves strains of the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise”, into the orchestral score gives us some of the film’s most emotional and triumphant moments. 

Grade: A+

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