Napoleon -- July 14, 2026

San Francisco Chronicle, 27-December-1981

In honor of Bastille Day, here is an ad for Francis Ford Coppola's 1981 revival of Napoléon vu par Abel Gance. We went to see Abel Gance's Napoleon, with a score by Coppola's father Carmine, at the Opera House. When I read Kevin Bownlow's The Parade's Gone By, I thought I would never get to see the Polyvision triptychs in a theater. Kevin Brownlow led the project to produce this restoration.

Series Will Depict Life of Napoleon -- April 20, 2024

Motion Picture News, 05-April-1924

French director Abel Gance proposed a series of six feature films about the life of Napoleon. It didn't quite work out.

Abel Gance -- A Napoleonic Cycle -- February 11, 2024

Film Daily, 10-February-1924

French director Abel Gance proposed a series of six feature films about the life of Napoleon. It didn't quite work out. 

Max Linder in His Supreme Burlesque -- August 28, 2022

Moving Picture World, 26-August-1922

Max Linder was the biggest star in film comedy before Charlie Chaplin. Linder appeared in hundreds of early Pathé slapstick comedies in France. He became a major star before World War One. There is some confusion about what he did in the war, but he was wounded or became seriously ill and newspapers reported that he had died. This was not true, but the French film industry, the most powerful in the world before the war, had mostly shut down. Max took an offer from Essanay and came to America, signing a deal to make six short films. The first two did poorly and the third did only a little better, so that was the end of the series. Max returned to France and opened a cinema. He made a feature in France, and then headed back to the US. He made a feature, Seven Years Bad Luck, which did well at the box office. His next American film, Be My Wife, did not do well at the box office. 

His next feature film, The Three Must-Get-Theres, a parody of Douglas Fairbanks' recent hit The Three Musketeers, was his last film produced in the US. Max wrote, directed and produced the movie. I always thought the title was clunky. 

Moving Picture World, 12-August-1922

The film used many anachronisms, like the telephone. 

Moving Picture World, 26-August-1922

Max played Dart-In-Again (groan) and Jobyna Ralston played Constance. Bull Montana played Cardinal Richie-Loo.

Moving Picture World, 26-August-1922

The movie was booked into some major theaters. 

Moving Picture World, 19-August-1922

Meanwhile, Max had gone back to France and started work on what would be his last films. Abel Gance directed Au Secours! and Édouard-Émile Violet directed The King of the Circus. I saw Au Secours! at the San Francisco Film Festival.

Abel Gance -- J'accuse -- November 29, 2021

Motion Picture News, 05-November-1921

Abel Gance made the anti-war film J'accuse in 1918 and 1919. Some of the battle scenes were shot during real battles. The film was finally released in the United States by United Artists in 1921.

Motion Picture News, 19-November-1921

Motion Picture News, 26-November-1921

 

Francis Ford Coppola 75 -- April 7, 2014

Francis Ford Coppola was born 75 years ago, on 07-April-1939.  I think the first movie of his that I saw was Dementia 13 on Creature Features, a late night horror show on KTVU Channel 2. 

I was too young to see The Godfather when it came out, but I read the Mad Magazine version over and over again. 

The first movie of his that I saw in a theater was The Conversation.  It was on a double bill with something totally unrelated.  I can't remember where I saw it. 

I saw Apocalypse Now  at the Strand, a Market Street house that was very popular with homeless people.  It seemed appropriate, especially when a character mentioned the unspeakable things going on in Kurtz's compound. 

I saw Hammett, which Coppola mostly reshot after Wim Wenders left the project, at the Metro on Union, I think.  I liked the book better. 

We saw The Cotton Club at the Bridge on Geary.  I liked it.  My then-fiancée, who tap dances, liked it.  Critics did not like it. 

I don't know how many times we saw "Captain EO", with Michael Jackson, at Disneyland. 

I've seen his other movies, including the three Godfathers on television.  I would like to see Godfather and Godfather Part 2 in a theater. 

We went to see Abel Gance's Napoleon, with a score by Coppola's father Carmine, at the Opera House. 

Coppola opened a restaurant in the Sentinel Building in North Beach.  Boss Abe Ruef had his office in the building. 

The photo of Coppola with his Godfather Academy Awards and the poster are from www.listal.com.