The Cinema
[Tun NAPOLEON FILM. AT THE GAUMONT PALACE, PARIS] A vuuT to the Gaumont Palace in Paris is an experience. It is said to be the largest cinema in Europe, if not in the world, and accommodates 5,000 persons with ease. Curiously enough it is not patronized to any large extent by foreigners, but the French pour in and out of its doors every evening in a vast, eager, vociferous throng. •
The film of Napoleon's childhood, which is being shown, opens with the Revolution, and we see Marat, a revolting figure, in his bath, , murdered by. Charlotte Corday, a part taken by the wife the producer, Abel Gance, who himself plays the part of the ferocious and cold-blooded Saint-Just. We see Napoleon first in prison in Antibes : a restless, impatient, beautiful figure. Slowly the story unfolds : the counter-revolution follows the revolution : the revulsion in the feelings of the people forces them to seek fresh leaders : the aftermath of violence, a starving populace in despair, is dragging the country into utter ruin, unless a leader can be found. Bonaparte, that astounding boy of 26, who has
already employed his spare time by drawing up plans for the conquest of Italy, is offered what is virtually the Dictator- ship, and accepts. " napoleon has stepped into history," as the caption dramatically tells us.
We watch his violent courtship of Josephine ; his marriage, when he keeps her waiting, having temporarily forgotten passion for his maps : or see him on his way to Italy, writing alternately orders to his Army and impassioned love-letters to Josephine : we see him reviving discipline and order in• his starving, disorganized troops, and finally we leave him, a lonely, dominating figure, silhouetted against the sky, Italy spread out in a panorama at his feet.
Napoleon is the greatest of French films. The producers were fortunate in securing so fine an actor as Albert Dieudonne to interpret Napoleon. He has personality, lire, looks. It is true he is too tall and perhaps too good-looking for Napoleon as we think of him, but there is a remarkable similarity of feature. The Napoleon of the screen is a romantic and attractive figure ; he is also the traditionally forceful conqueror of history.
During the interval Dieudonne himself comes on to the stage and addresses the audience. He thanks us with Gallic emotion for the reception he has been accorded : he tells us that for twenty-five years he has studied and pondered over the great figure he has at length had the courage to portray ; he asks for indulgence for all his shortcomings, for he has, he assures us, given to his task " tout mon coeur et toute ma foi."
It was interesting to see how much better a French film crowd acts than either an English or an American one. The French are more naturally and more eagerly alive. And in Napoleon there are many crowds of many kinds to watch.
The triple screen employed at the end of " Vers la Gloire " was new to me. Gance, the producer, felt the limitations imposed by a single screen and has invented a method of throwing three pictures in a line on the screeen simultaneously. It is used with admirable results to achieve panoramic effects, and certainly marks an advance in the production of pictures on the grand scale.
W. W.
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