Clapperboard [24/11/80]

Clapperboard [24/11/80] (Clapperboard)

24 Nov 1980
26m

A look at Abel Gance's silent epic Napoleon, restored by Kevin Brownlow and showing at the 24th London Film Festival.

Chris Kelly conducts a studio interview with Kevin Brownlow in advance of the London Film Festival screening of his restoration of Napoleon (1927), the hugely ambitious five-hour silent epic of the early life and rise of France's great military leader. Clips show Abel Gance's extraordinary technical innovations, fast editing style and eye for spectacle.

The programme includes footage from the 'making of' documentary Gance made which shows him talking about the great triptych sequence at the end of the film. Brownlow relates anecdotes about Gance and the discovery and restoration of the great work before its one-off screening at the LFF.

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