History Film / Napoleon

** ''[[Film/Napoleon1955 Napoléon]]'' (1955), a film starring Daniel Gélin and Raymond Pellegrin.

* Works about the historical figure UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte:

* Works about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte:

** ''[[Film/Napoleon1927 Napoléon]]'' (1927), film starring Albert Dieudonné.
** ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'' (2002), miniseries starring Creator/ChristianClavier.
** ''Film/{{Napoleon|2023}}'' (2023), film starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix.

** ''[[Film/Napoleon2023 Napoléon]]'' (2023), film starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix.

[[redirect:Film/Napoleon1927]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/napoleonabelgance.jpg]]

''Napoléon'' is a 1927 {{silent|film}} historical film written and directed by Abel Gance and starring Albert Dieudonné in the title role.

The film covers the years 1783-1796, following UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte on his rise from a young student at a military academy to a senior general in the armies of France, as the country is shaken to its foundations by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.

It's one of the earliest examples of EpicMovie in French cinema, running around 5 1/2 hours depending on which version one watches. The film includes many innovative camera techniques, most notably the use of "Polyvision", an early attempt at widescreen cinema done by stitching three conventional camera shots together (widescreen in general did not come into use until Hollywood studios adopted the format in the 1950s).

Planned sequels which would have followed the rest of Napoleon's tumultuous life [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were never made]], although Abel Gance still reused some of the ideas for these in his 1960 film ''Austerlitz''.

For the 2023 film by Ridley Scott, see [[Film/Napoleon2023 here]]. For the 2002 miniseries, see [[Series/{{Napoleon}} here]].
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!!Provides examples of:
* AccidentalMisnaming: When Napoleon gives his name to Pichegru, the latter mishears it as "Paille-au-nez" (straw-in-the-nose). See FunetikAksent.
* AnimalMotifs:
** Napoleon had a pet eagle as a child, and is represented by eagles throughout the film.
** Robespierre is introduced sitting beneath a statue depicting a vulture. No points for subtlety there.
* AspectRatioSwitch: This film is the UrExample. Most of it is in 4:3, but the climax expands it to 4:1. This remains the widest aspect ratio in cinematic history.
* ChekhovsClassroom: The geography lesson about the climates of islands that introduces Saint Helena was presumably intended this way. As the sequels to this film never got made, it remains an OrphanedSetup.
* ChildishPillowFight: After two bullies at Brienne College set Napoleon's eagle free, he demands to know who's responsible. When nobody will tell him, he declares all of them guilty, and a pillow fight breaks out.
* CueTheSun: The final night of the Siege of Toulon is fought during a rain- and hailstorm. After the battle is won, the weather clears up and the sun rises.
* DawnOfAnEra[=/=]EndOfAnAge: The film is set during the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution, so naturally this applies.
* DeadPersonConversation: The night before leaving Paris for the Italian Campaign, Napoleon visits the National Convention. There, he sees the spirits of dead revolutionaries including Danton, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and Jean-Paul Marat. They urge him to lead the Revolution and spread it beyond the borders of France. He agrees to do so.
* DoubleEntendre: While they're playing chess at the Victims' Ball, Napoleon tells Hoche--who also has the hots for Joséphine--that he's about to take his Queen. And then looks straight at Joséphine to drive the point home.
* DramaticIrony: Nelson requests permission to sink ''Le Hasard''. His superior dismisses the ship as not worth the ammunition it would take. Unbeknownst to both of them, ''Le Hasard'' was carrying [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte a future Emperor]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bonaparte three]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bonaparte future]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jérôme_Bonaparte Kings]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Bonaparte a future Queen]].
* EarlyBirdCameo: Horatio Nelson spots ''Le Hasard'', the ship carrying the Bonapartes from Corsica, but is refused permission to sink it. He settles for glaring suspiciously at it as it sails away, foreshadowing his later battles against Napoleon that climaxed at Trafalgar in 1805.
* EatTheEvidence: Well, the accusations. The files on Napoleon and Joséphine are eaten by a couple of clerks who don't want to see them executed.
* EnemyMine: The Corsicans may not agree which country is their Fatherland, but there is one thing they do agree about:
-->'''Corsican 1:''' Our Fatherland is Spain with Buttafuoco! Death to Napoleon Bonaparte!\\
'''Corsican 2:''' No, our Fatherland is Italy, with the Duke of Savoy! Death to Napoleon Bonaparte!\\
'''Corsican 3:''' No, our Fatherland is England with Paoli! Death to Napoleon Bonaparte!\\
'''Napoleon:''' ''(reveals himself by standing atop a table)'' No... our Fatherland is France... [[BadassBoast with me]]!
* TheEpic: The first of six planned films about the life of Napoleon, and the only one that got made. Even then, it meets the criteria.
* EpicMovie: Five and a half hours long, two intermissions, spans several years of history, features three different battles, has a cast of thousands, requires three screens side-by-side and three projectors to watch in its full glory, and cost so much that the sequels were never made.
* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: "Don't forget to [[DecapitationPresentation show my head]] to the people. It is well worth the trouble." -- Danton
* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Napoleon tells an angry mob to release Saliceti and di Borgo--who have repeatedly conspired to have him killed, mind you--saying that forgiving them is easy, but forgetting is impossible.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Of the literal variety. Some of Robespierre’s pieces of stationery cast a shadow eerily reminiscent of a guillotine’s on a book by Cromwell that he’s reading after Danton's execution. Robespierre promptly flings the stationery across the room when Saint-Just points it out to him.
* FortuneTeller: Joséphine de Beauharnais visits a clairvoyant who foretells that she will be Queen one day.
* FrameUp: Pozzo di Borgo agrees to fabricate evidence for Saliceti when the latter wishes to accuse Napoleon of espionage.
* FullCircleRevolution: The infamous Reign of Terror leads to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermidorian_Reaction Thermidorian Reaction]], also known as simply [[TheThermidor Thermidor]].
* FunetikAksent: The intertitle explains that Napoleon's Corsican accent had him pronounce his name "Nap-eye-ony". See AccidentalMisnaming.
* HatOfAuthority: Napoleon's iconic bicorne is apparently the only way people recognize his authority, as he's taken for a peasant ''by people who came to thank him'' for saving France when he takes it off.
* HeroicSacrifice: When the name "de Beauharnais" is called for execution, Joséphine's ex-husband volunteers [[ActOfTrueLove so she can say farewell to their children]].
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Most of the named characters.
* IAmTheNoun: After [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_Vendémiaire saving the National Convention]] and being promoted to General-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior as a result, Napoleon states that as of then, ''he'' is the Revolution.
* IdleRich: Joséphine de Beauharnais' introduction sees her described as such.
* ImprovisedSail: Napoleon uses the ''Tricolore'' as a makeshift sail when fleeing Corsica.
* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The full title--''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance''--translates as "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance".
* {{Intermission}}: Two.
** One after the Bonapartes depart Corsica for France, leading into act II.
** One after Napoleon and Joséphine's wedding, leading into act IV.
* InterserviceRivalry: At the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Toulon Siege of Toulon]], Napoleon is disparaged for being in the artillery.
-->'''General Carteaux:''' Remember this, young man; firstly, artillery is useless; and secondly...\\
''(A cannonball falls through the ceiling and the table they're sitting at, startling all the officers inside except Napoleon)''\\
'''Napoleon:''' [[DeadpanSnarker And secondly, it is most unpleasant.]]
* ItaliansTalkWithHands: In the "tower of Babel", somebody laments:
-->"Italians speak with their hands."
* KingIncognito: When a crowd gathers to celebrate Napoleon for saving the National Convention, he sneaks off into the crowd and asks what's going on. He gets taken for an ignorant peasant and is told that General Bonaparte saved France. See PaperThinDisguise.
* MeetCute: Napoleon and Joséphine first run into each other when she's on the way to the famous clairvoyant Mlle. Lenormant and he's trying to fix his cardboard boots after they got wet.
* MononymousBiopicTitle: The title is usually rendered as just ''Napoléon''.
* NippleAndDimed: At the Victims' Ball, the bare breasts of several dancing women are seen.
* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
-->All events and quotations taken directly from history are followed by the reference – "''Historical''"
* OffWithHisHead: The favoured method of execution by the revolutionaries, preferably via guillotine. A few of them suffer this fate themselves.
* PaperThinDisguise: Napoleon swaps hats with someone who bears a passing resemblance to him. Apparently, his hat is his most distinguishing feature, because nobody recognizes him and the other man is immediately mistaken for him.
* PostVictoryCollapse: When Dugommier goes to promote Napoleon after the victory at Toulon, he finds him fast asleep.
* RagsToRiches: At his lowest point, Napoleon was forced to fashion boots out of cardboard. By the end, he's a war hero revered in all of France.
* RedFilterOfDoom: During the final stages of the siege of Toulon, when the black-and-white film stock is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_tinting tinted]] red.
* ReignOfTerror: Set during the TropeNamer.
* RousingSpeech: Napoleon gives one to his troops before the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montenotte Battle of Montenotte]].
* SceneryPorn: Napoleon's ride through the Corsican countryside, and most of the Triptych sequence.
* ShamingTheMob: When an angry mob shows up at the Bonapartes' doorstep, Napoleon simply walks out the door and stares them down. The mob quickly leaves.
* ShownTheirWork:
-->All the scenes in Corsica where photographed in the exact locations where the incidents occurred. -- Author's note
* SinisterShades: Robespierre dons a pair from time to time.
* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Napoleon and Hoche, both military strategists, play a game at the Victims' Ball. Napoleon wins.
* SnowballFight: The first scene of the film, where Napoleon demonstrates his skill as a commander in a snowball fight at Brienne College.
* SplitScreen: Used several times during the film, such as the pillow fight scene when the screen splits in ''nine'', and in the famous Triptych sequence.
* TerribleTrio: The leaders of the revolution are introduced as "the three gods" ([[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolutionMajorFigures Danton, Marat]], and [[UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre Robespierre]]), and they are all portrayed as bad guys.
* TimeSkip: The film jumps ahead nine years (from 1783 to 1792) from Napoleon's time at Brienne College to the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution.
* TowerOfBabel: The council of war held by the forces defending Toulon is described by the intertitles as "a veritable tower of Babel" (five languages are spoken: English, German, Spanish, Italian, and French).
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Saint-Just makes an impassioned speech to this effect in his defence when the National Convention calls for his and Robespierre's deaths. It receives thunderous applause, but they both end up sentenced to death anyway.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: UsefulNotes/CharlotteCorday puts a knife down the front of her dress when she goes to assassinate Marat.
* WantedPoster: Paoli has notes (without any picture of Napoleon, sadly) put up on Corsica promising a reward of 500 pounds to whomever brings in Napoleon dead or alive.
* WeatherOfWar: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. When the drummers at Toulon have fallen, morale is kept up by hail beating the drums.
* YoungFutureFamousPeople: Napoleon as a schoolboy at Brienne College.
----

For the 2023 film, see [[Film/Napoleon2023 here]]. For the 2002 miniseries, see [[Series/{{Napoleon}} here]].

* HatOfAuthority: Napoleon's iconic bicorne.

* PaperThinDisguise: Napoleon swaps hats with someone who bears a passing resemblance to him. Apparently, his NiceHat is his most distinguishing feature, because nobody recognizes him and the other man is immediately mistaken for him.

* RedFilterOfDoom: Most notably during the final stages of the siege of Toulon, when the black-and-white film stock is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_tinting tinted]] red.

* SplitScreen: Used several times during the film, such as the pillow fight scene when the screen splits in ''nine'', but most notably in the famous Triptych sequence.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Horatio Nelson spots ''Le Hasard'', the ship carrying the Bonapartes from Corsica.

* FamousLastWords: "Don't forget to [[DecapitationPresentation show my head]] to the people. It is well worth the trouble." -- Danton

* DeadPersonConversation: The night before leaving Paris for the Italian Campaign, Napoleon visits the National Convention. There, he sees the spirits of dead revolutionaries including Danton, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and Marat. They urge him to lead the Revolution and spread it beyond the borders of France. He agrees to do so.

* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Charlotte Corday puts a knife down the front of her dress when she goes to assassinate Marat.

* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The full title translates as "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance".

It's one of the earliest examples of EpicMovie in French cinema, running around 5 1/2 hours depending on which version one watches. The film includes many innovative camera techniques, most notably the use of "Polyvision", an early attempt at widescreen cinema done by stitching three conventional camera shots together (Widescreen in general did not come into use until Hollywood studios adopted the format in the 1950s).

Planned sequels which would have followed the rest of Napoleon's tumultuous career [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were never made]], although Abel Gance still reused some of the ideas for these in his 1960 film ''Austerlitz''.

The film covers the years 1783-1796, following Napoleon on his rise from a young student at a military academy to a senior general in the armies of France, as the country is shaken to its foundations by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution.

''Napoléon'' is a 1927 SilentFilm about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte written and directed by Abel Gance and starring Albert Dieudonné in the title role.

''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'' is a 1927 SilentFilm about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte written and directed by Abel Gance and starring Albert Dieudonné in the title role.

Planned sequels which would have followed the rest of Napoleon's tumultuous career [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were never made]], although Abel Gance still reused some of the ideas for these in 1960's ''Austerlitz''.

It's one of the earliest examples of the EpicMovie in French cinema, running around 5 1/2 hours depending on which version one watches. The film includes many innovative camera techniques, most notably the use of "Polyvision", an early attempt at widescreen cinema done by stitching three conventional camera shots together (Widescreen in general did not come into use until Hollywood studios adopted the format in the 1950s).

The film covers the years 1783-1796, following Napoleon on his rise from a young student at a military academy to a senior general in the armies of France, as the country is shaken to its foundations by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. It's one of the earliest examples of the EpicMovie in French cinema, running around 5 1/2 hours depending on which version one watches. The film includes many innovative camera techniques, most notably the use of "Polyvision", an early attempt at widescreen cinema done by stitching three conventional camera shots together (Widescreen in general did not come into use until Hollywood studios adopted the format in the 1950s).

''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'' is a 1927 SilentFilm about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte written and directed by Abel Gance.

Planned sequels which would have followed the rest of Napoleon's tumultuous career [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were never made]], bu Abel Gance still reused some of the ideas for these in 1960's ''Austerlitz''.

''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'' is a 1927 SilentFilm about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte written and directed by Creator/AbelGance.

The film covers the years 1783-1796, following Napoleon on his rise from a young student at a military academy to a senior general in the armies of France, as the country is shaken to its foundations by UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. It's one of the earliest examples of the EpicMovie in French cinema, running around 5 1/2 hours depending on which version one watches. The film includes many innovative camera techniques, most notably the use of "Polyvision", an early attempt at widescreen cinema done by stitching three conventional camera shots together. (Widescreen in general did not come into use until Hollywood studios adopted the format in the 1950s.)

Planned sequels which would have followed the rest of Napoleon's tumultuous career [[WhatCouldHaveBeen were never made]].

'''Corsican 3:''' No, our Fatherland is England with the Paoli! Death to Napoleon Bonaparte!\\

''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'' is a 1927 SilentFilm about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte written and directed by Creator/AbelGance. The film covers the years 1783-1796.