Napoleon (2023)

[SeanC]

Sir Ridley Scott is somehow still able to get studios to give him enormous sums to fund historical epics despite audiences having mostly (sadly) deserted that genre in the past decade or so. We should all be thankful for his salesmanship.

[Anduin]

Looks interesting. I don't know much about the Napoleonic Wars. However, the trailer left me with two urges. The first, watch Waterloo on YT. The problem with that, I'd be spoiling myself for the end of the story! The other, listen to Mike Duncan discuss the French Revolution again. However, I don't have 600 spare hours. There are other things to occupy my time and ears. Anyway, at this stage it looks good.

But for those who do know about Napoleon's career, which battle is that towards the end? With the cannons firing into the ice and all.

[SeanC]

2 hours ago, Anduin said:

But for those who do know about Napoleon's career, which battle is that towards the end? With the cannons firing into the ice and all.

That is a famous, if oft-contested, anecdote from the Battle of Austerlitz (also called the Battle of the Three Emperors), where Napoleon defeated the larger combined armies of the Russian Tsar and the Emperor of Austria. Typically considered his masterpiece battle.

[Anduin]

21 minutes ago, SeanC said:

That is a famous, if oft-contested, anecdote from the Battle of Austerlitz (also called the Battle of the Three Emperors), where Napoleon defeated the larger combined armies of the Russian Tsar and the Emperor of Austria. Typically considered his masterpiece battle.

Thanks!

[Tom Holmberg]

Phoenix is the same age as Napoleon when he died which makes it hard to accept him in the earlier scenes. Napoleon wasn't that as much of a RBF sufferer as portrayed. Besides the Austerlitz ice thing, Napoleon wasn't at the execution of Marie Antoinette (why is that even in the movie?) and he didn't shoot the Pyramids (or the Sphinx).   It looks like its going to be basically the totally evil Napoleon depiction.

Edited July 11 by Tom Holmberg

[Tom Holmberg]

The best Napoleon movie is the 1927 silent version directed by Abel Gance.  I saw the Francis Ford Coppola version in a theater with a full orchestra.  It occasionally shows up at universities or art houses.  Supposedly a remastered (or re-remasterd) version is due out on Netflix in the near? future.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoléon_(1927_film)

 

[BooBear]

I am a little worried about it. What I know of Napoleon doesn't seem to be in this movie. To me it looks like they cast people and then wrote a movie to show them off. Screw history. 

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

The best Napoleon movie is the 1927 silent version directed by Abel Gance.  I saw the Francis Ford Coppola version in a theater with a full orchestra.  It occasionally shows up at universities or art houses.  Supposedly a remastered (or re-remasterd) version is due out on Netflix in the near? future.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoléon_(1927_film)

 

It was a silent movie cinematic masterpiece in terms of techniques and storytelling but,IMO,shilly proganda instead of having more than the slightest resemblance to Nap's actual history!

Edited July 14 by Blergh
Vital missing letter

[Tom Holmberg]

6 hours ago, Blergh said:

It was a silent movie cinematic masterpiece in terms of techniques and storytelling but,IMO,shilly proganda instead of having more than the slightest resemblance to Nap's actual history!

I don't agree, but you are right, cinematically it's a masterpiece.  The triptych really stuns when seen on the big screen.

Edited July 14 by Tom Holmberg

[JustHereForFood]

I liked the 2002 miniseries with Christian Clavier.

When movies want to cover that much of history, I prefer it when they take the appropriate time to do it properly, instead of rushing through everything.

[ursula]

I'm just confused why he isn't short. 

Edited July 15 by ursula

[GHScorpiosRule]

35 minutes ago, ursula said:

I'm just confused why he isn't short. 

Seriously! I remember how both The Flinstones  and Bugs Bunny  made hay of that. Oh, wait. The Flintstones  had Christopher Columbus.😂😂😂

Anyone remember that hideous mini-series with Armand Assante?

That said, as much as I don’t like Joaquin, the trailer has me…intrigued. 

[SeanC]

5 hours ago, ursula said:

I'm just confused why he isn't short. 

Napoleon was not actually short, he was of average height for the period. The notion that he was tiny was a caricature created by British cartoonists during the Napoleonic Wars that has stuck around ever since.

[Tom Holmberg]

23 hours ago, ursula said:

I'm just confused why he isn't short. 

Napoleon was average sized for the time, 5' 6".  In fact, that was the average height of British soldiers in WWI.  One issue was that his height was given in French measurements and people didn't convert them to English measurements.  The other issue was that British propagandists wanted to portray Napoleon as puny.

 

On 7/15/2023 at 10:22 AM, JustHereForFood said:

I liked the 2002 miniseries with Christian Clavier.

When movies want to cover that much of history, I prefer it when they take the appropriate time to do it properly, instead of rushing through everything.

Spielberg is working on a Napoleon miniseries based on Kubrick's research.  At least he won't be rushing through Napoleon's life.

22 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Seriously! I remember how both The Flinstones  and Bugs Bunny  made hay of that. Oh, wait. The Flintstones  had Christopher Columbus.😂😂😂

Anyone remember that hideous mini-series with Armand Assante?

That said, as much as I don’t like Joaquin, the trailer has me…intrigued. 

That was the one where the Infernal Machine assassins lit the bomb with a cigarette lighter!

[ursula]

On 7/15/2023 at 5:52 PM, SeanC said:

Napoleon was not actually short, he was of average height for the period. The notion that he was tiny was a caricature created by British cartoonists during the Napoleonic Wars that has stuck around ever since.

No smoke without fire, I still say. I’m sure British propaganda has made fun of a lot of their enemies… why is this particular rumour the only one that stuck? 😂😂😂 On a more serious note, I think Dinklage would have killed this role.