Monday, January 28, 2013

Gance, from Napoleon to Beethoven

A few months back I brought you a couple of scenes from famed film director Abel Gance's biopic about Beethoven in the 1930s.  I mentioned that I had seen the restored version of his wildly inventive silent epic Napoleon in its celebrated run at Radio City Music Hall back in 1981.   Of course, Beethoven had his own Napoleon complex, dedicating the Eroica to him and then scratching it out when his "hero" declared himself emperor.  Below: another scene from the Gance portrait of LvB.

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