Boney Was A Warrior, John France-wah!
Jan. 15th, 2024 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo YouTube is punting me clips of Ridley Scott's Napoleon. Saves me having to sit through the whole damn thing. I've seen Toulon, I've seen Russia, I've seen Waterloo- and the events judder past- as in the old capstan song Boney Was a Warrior- in a rhythmic series of grunts. Scott is great with the visuals- and gives us some stunningly graphic scenes of horse-murder- but doesn't appear to give a tinker's cuss for historical accuracy. Napoleon leading a climactic cavalry charge at Waterloo? Give me strength! But all this has been said before...
The best Napoleon film remains Abel Gance's truncated silent epic which takes us up to the start of the Italian campaign. Next best is Sergei Bondarchuk's Waterloo. Greatest might-have-been is the film Stanley Kubrick laboriously prepared for which had the skids put under it by the poor performance of Bondarchuck's movie. He wanted the young Al Pacino for Napoleon. Those flashing eyes! That floating hair! There's currently talk of using Kubrick's script as the foundation for a TV mini-series. Oh, wouldn't that be good!
The best Napoleon film remains Abel Gance's truncated silent epic which takes us up to the start of the Italian campaign. Next best is Sergei Bondarchuk's Waterloo. Greatest might-have-been is the film Stanley Kubrick laboriously prepared for which had the skids put under it by the poor performance of Bondarchuck's movie. He wanted the young Al Pacino for Napoleon. Those flashing eyes! That floating hair! There's currently talk of using Kubrick's script as the foundation for a TV mini-series. Oh, wouldn't that be good!
