Word: abell
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This is the man Abel Gance gives us in his film Napoleon...
...four-and-a-half hours, Abel Gance depicts the simultaneous birth of Liberty and Despotism...
Paris, 1927. Abel Gance's four-and-a-half-hour monument to nationalism opens at the Theatre de l'Opera. Gance expects that his techniques and innovations will revolutionize film. He is particularly proud of Polyvision, used at the end of the film. The screen widens, and on three separate panels, three different film sequences run simultaneously: the physical, emotional, and intellectual portrait of a nation. In the last frames, the Imperial Eagle, wings stretched to encompass the globe, fills all three screens. Gance is already planning the two sequels to Napoleon--provided he can get the funding...
...film is well-received, but history turns nasty on Abel Gance. Six months after Napoleon, Al Jolson does a little softshoe number; talkies are in, Polyvision is out. In desperation and disgust, Gance burns part of the footage. Who cares now where the life of the Corsican Eagle ends up? The reels are dispersed across the globe...
...rediscovery of the Eustace legend becomes the book's most comical scene, in which Hoban deftly deflates all interpreters of ancient texts. The political leader of Riddley's people--a character named Abel Goodparley, known as Pry Mincer--translates this passage to Riddley...