Abel Gance

[Knappen]

Great posting, Vogler.

If my memory serves my well I think Gance refused to watch the film in it's release form. When he finally saw it years later he was repulsed. I think the film is a wonderful documentation of Gance's madness.

I just got a message from my french connection who says he has the 1918 version of J'accuse but "sonorisée par Gance en 1934, je crois". Does anyone know something about this particular version? I think Gance put spoken dialogue to Napoleon too. The length of the copy is 1h56.

Edit. Correction: It was the talkie that he took for a sonorized version. He mixed the cases with Napoleon and J'accuse. Gance talks about his project of putting spoken dialogue to his silent films in an interview from french radio also available on emule.

[vogler]

I think the film is a wonderful documentation of Gance's madness.

Madness, genius or both? From watching the U.S. version I really have no idea of what Gance intended this film to be about. Soon I shall watch the longer version and I hope to gain at least a little more insight into what the devil he was getting at with this one? One thing that is for sure though, is that it contains some amazing imagery and montage sequences.

I have to say that I am finding this thread rather exciting as I am obsessed with Gance's films and it is great to find out any information possible about these lost epics.

La Clé du Ciel, do you have much information on La Fin du Monde? Also I'd be very interested to know your opinion of it.

[Knappen]

Here are some clippings from presentations of the film done by Gance during the preparation for La Fin du Monde and from his own notes. I found them in the book Abel Gance - Un soleil dans chaque image. Is french unpopular on the Forum? Please tell if this is unwanted.

La Passion du Christ ? La Fin du monde ? Aucun contraste entre ces deux thèmes. Ce sont, tous les deux, des tremplins cinématographiques de premier ordre. Et d'ailleurs, dans mon imagination, ils sont deux parties d'un grand tout qui sera une série de « Grands initiés ». La Fin du Monde devrait être l'épilogue de toute la série. Un thème dramatique, pas du tout lyrique, l'hélice, pour ainsi dire, de mon idée. Vous vous rappelez cette phrase de Nietzsche, dans « La Volonté de puissance », où le nihilisme d'aujourd'hui était prévu, comme un besoin magnifique... Ce que je vais faire, dans mon scénario, peut arriver demain. En gros, pensez à la rencontre de deux forces, les deux électricités, le ciel et le sol. Les victoires ne peuvent naître que du christianisme... Vous voyez le lien avec La Passion, une première grande fresque des « Grands Initiés ». On n'y trouvera rien d'anti-social... Pour mon compte, si j'aime d'avantage le thème de La Passion, je suis attiré, mon esprit est attiré, par celui de La Fin du Monde. J'y domine mieux les événements.

J'ai écrit le grand drame de La fin du monde qui se cristallise dans ma pensée depuis dix ans, pendant une sorte de crise de lumière intérieure qui m'oblige à lui donner du prix maintenant que je le regarde dehors.

Ce film ouvre ses bras d'images au monde ; il doit laisser, dans l'océan des hommes, non pas dans leur esprit, mais dans leur coeur.

Sans que la politique et la religion y jouent un rôle, il cherche, dans les entrailles de l'homme, ce que Dieu y a mis avant toute chose : la bonté.

Je sais combien ces grands mots de fraternité et d'amour sont fatigués et usés pour avoir trop servi ; ils ne prennent de prix que selon l'élévation des coeurs qui les prononcent ou peut-être est-ce beaucoup me flatter que de penser pouvoir leur rendre une partie de virginité. Mais je ne veux pas mettre de rhétorique dans mes paroles, pas plus que de théâtre dans mes actes ; une vérité ardente me consume. Qu'on me laisse approcher des coeurs, ceux-ci en sentiront la chaleur, et la glace des esprits fondra comme par enchantement... Nous avons, en effet, avec le film sonore, une force plus mystérieuse et plus formidable que le feu, tout au moins pour l'évolution de la pensée humaine, en tout cas, j'en suis convaincu, une force plus grande que l'imprimerie.

Avec La Fin du Monde, j'ai essayé de montrer l'homme devant la peur la plus effroyable qui puisse le toucher et d'opérer la sélection des valeurs par se résistance ou par son anéantissement devant l'effroi. Qui résiste, domine, qui faiblit, qui craint, qui ploie, est infailliblement entraîné par le torrent de l'épouvante qui s'abat sur la terre dans mon film.

Le sujet fondamental de cette oeuvre est la lutte d'un héros pour élever l'humanité au-dessus d'elle-même, la sauver du désespoir et de l'erreur. C'est un poème de raison de d'idéalisme, bâti autour de l'idée de l'union de tous les peuples et de toutes les âmes.

Deux personnages gigantesques symbolisent le rêve et l'action, deux frères dont l'un, visionnaire, avant de disparaître, lègue à l'autre, qui accomplira le salut des hommes, un secret immense dont la révélation progressive éclairera, peu à peu, tout le drame de la fin de la terre. Une femme, âme étrange et double, appartenant, tantôt au bien, tantôt au mal, exprimant, en elle, le drame secret de tous les coeurs féminins ; deux grands banquiers, l'un véritable génie satanique, l'autre dilettante indifférent, menant le formidable jeu de la lutte suprême pour la puissance, en plein cataclysme cosmique et servant, l'un l'Argent et le Passé, l'autre l'Idée et l'Avenir humain, tels sont les protagonistes de cette formidable tragédie.

Autour des personnages, flotte une atmosphère tragique de fin du monde. La guerre gronde. Le conflit du Pacifique va mettre aux prises, quatre cents millions d'hommes. On dirait que les hommes sont à bout. Jean souffre plus encore de cette agonie morale du monde. Il rêve mystérieusement aux moyens d'arrêter cette course à l'abîme des peuples. D'autre part, voici Martial dans son observatoire, poursuivant, avec acharnement, ses recherches astronomiques. Que voit-il au bout de son étrange télescope ?

La rencontre inéluctable de la Terre et d'une comète, la passion d'un coeur humain qui a tout tenté pour sauver les hommes et qui ne voit plus qu'un seul moyen pour essayer de forger dans le creuset de l'épouvante universelle de nouvelles vertus et une définitive alliance entre les peuples ; les progrès puis le paroxysme de la peur, suivis de réactions de courage et des miracles de l'espérance et de l'héroïsme rallumés au feu du ciel, les épreuves, les trahisons, les audacieuses aventures que doit traverser le héros avant d'arriver à son but, enfin sa sublime victoire, telles sont les phases principales de cette épopée de La Fin du Monde où les mystères du ciel et ceux du coeur humain seront « vus » et « entendus » sur les trois écrans où l'auteur déroulera leur grandiose harmonie.

A côté de ceux qui, trop faibles pour supporter l'idée de la fin du monde, meurent dans les plaisirs ou se suicident, il y a ceux, découverts par Martial, fortifiés par son courage et organisés par lui, qui résistent en travaillant et qui essaient, afin de ne pas avoir vécu en vain, de faire quelque chose de bon et de beau avant de mourir.

Au milieu de la lumière verte de la comète, qui est maintenant tout près de la terre, dans les cataclysmes les plus épouvantables et extraordinaires, s'organisent alors, sous la conduite de Martial, comme une digue pour contenir la peur et la mort, un événement formidable qui doit bouleverser de surprise les spectateurs et réunir, sur les trois écrans, toutes les forces, toutes les beautés, et les trouvailles les plus inattendues du cinéma muet et du cinéma sonore. C'est la scène capitale peut-être, du film, où toutes les races sont représentées dans la nature en délire auquel résiste l'héroïsme humain à son apogée. Les peuples chantent, le monde est en feu. On voit, on entend toutes choses.

Enfin le choc effroyable se produit. Et voici que la terreur à son paroxysme fait place peu à peu à un calme très doux, à la sérénité, à la joie. La comète a passé. La Terre se réveille comme d'un songe...

[La Clé du Ciel]

Gosh! Lovely to see such response!

Well, I have so much to respond to. Perhaps I shall start by saying something about LA FIN DU MONDE. I have seen the 90-minute version, with all the “Jesus stuffâ€

[vogler]

Many thanks La Clé du Ciel for your wealth of excellent information. I just finished watching my version of La Fin du Monde shortly before reading your post. The film is indeed a bit of a mess but a rather glorious mess I feel - I thoroughly enjoyed it actually. A failure it may be, but a fascinating one as well. There is just something about the Gance as Messiah section at the beginning - even though I am an atheist I have always been fascinated by religious (or perhaps sacrilegious) imagery for some reason.

Also thanks Knappen for the Gance text. My French is not too good but I am understanding most of it (linguistically that is - I'm not too sure I quite understand what Gance is getting at all the time).

Having only just watched the film and read all this information I'm still digesting it all. Hopefully I will be able to post something more intelligent soon.

[La Clé du Ciel]

In other Gance dvd news, the Rene Chateau release of UN GRAND AMOUR DE BEETHOVEN has fallen through. Amazon.fr are claiming a “rupture de stockâ€

[Knappen]

René Chateau is a very curious and unreliable company but we easily forgive them as they are releasing such treasures at low prices. According to their less than informative site the film is for sale.

[Cinéslob]

Doesn't Austerlitz have Vittorio De Sica playing a pope? I must admit to fostering a perverse curiosity to see exactly how terrible the whole thing is, and with no sign of Napoleon on the horizon (O, for Coppola and Kaplan to receive their just desserts!...), I may just give in to temptation and eke it out...

[Lemmy Caution]

LC-dC, good musings on Austerlitz. I keep almost buying the Dvd (it's cheap here), but I can't really countenance watching it before I ever get to see Napoleon. I watched a mediocre version of Beethoven a few months back. A little strange and creaky here and there, but I enjoyed it. Would like to see a nicely restored version. I'll have to check, but assume the version I saw was the edited US version (though my copy was released by a no-frills Hong kong company).

[Knappen]

...that a french friend had gotten dvds of J'accuse and La dixième symphonie from Japan. He left for a long holiday in Nepal right afterwards so I didn't have the time to ask for length, speed and quality. All I know is that it's released by a company called Tozaki (or at least I interpret this from a list he sent).
Anybody know anything? Those francophile japs are unpredictable and may have other copyright arrangements than us. He had also received Le voyage imaginaire by René Clair.

[La Clé du Ciel]

I'm intrigued. I can't imagine anyone has a print which isn't Kaplan's (that would be too bizarre and too good a thing to have happened). I know some university collection or other has one old vhs copy with music on it (and shown at the right speed, judging from the runtime), so perhaps that has leaked out somehow. If it's at the wrong speed (i.e. 24fps rather than the correct 18), the runtime will be about 107 minutes. The correct runtime should be about 148 minutes.

This reminds me. Ages ago, I calculated the correct lengths for the various versions of J'ACCUSE at various speeds. Here we go:

5250 m (original, four-part) version:
Part One (1700 m) = 82 minutes at 18 fps (61 minutes at 24 fps)
Part Two (1150 m) = 55 minutes at 18 fps (42 minutes at 24 fps)
Part Three (1200 m) = 58 minutes at 18 fps (43 minutes at 24 fps)
Part Four (1200m) = 58 minutes at 18 fps (43 minutes at 24 fps)
Total = 253 minutes at 18 fps (191 minutes at 24 fps)

4350 m (three-part) version:
Part One (1625 m) = 78 minutes at 18 fps (59 minutes at 24 fps)
Part Two (1215 m) = 59 minutes at 18 fps (44 minutes at 24 fps)
Part Three (1625 m) = 72 minutes at 18 fps (55 minutes at 24 fps)
Total = 209 minutes at 18 fps (159 minutes at 24 fps)

3200 m (1921-2 re-edited) version = 154 minutes at 18 fps (117 minutes at 24 fps)

Doing another google search for the film, I came across an obscure reply post (way back in the mists of time) from someone responding to a query about the location of J'ACCUSE. According to this person:

Material appears to be held at:
Archives du Film du CNC (Bois d'Arcy)
Cinémathèque Municipale de Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
Národní Filmovy Archiv (Prague)
Gosfilmofond of Russia (Moscow)

I was aware of some of these locations housing J'ACCUSE print materials, but I'm intrigued to see Moscow turning up. There were some prints of LA ROUE scattered about Eastern Europe at one time, so it's hardly surprising that J'ACCUSE might be out there too. Just more proof that Kaplan's print is far from unique and complete. Who knows what versions still exist out there…

Bambi Ballard restored LA DIXIEME SYMPHONIE in the 1980s – it's a rather lovely film I think. Her restoration comes from an original tinted print and even possesses a new recording of the original score – the film having had a special score commissioned by Gance. It has some beautiful scenes. I once watched it on a large screen on my own. The combination of the atmospheric music and the photography really got to me and my opinion of it has risen further since I first saw it.

I've yet to receive my damn French dvd of BEETHOVEN. I see Rene Chateau now also says they've released Gance's 1955 film LA TOUR DE NESLE. Anyone got either of these dvds?

I've now been able to see 16mm prints of AUTOUR DE LA ROUE (1922) and AUTOUR DE LA FIN DU MONDE (1930) – both fascinating curiosities...

At 320m (about 15 minutes at 18 fps), AUTOUR DE LA ROUE was made by Blaise Cendrars during the shooting of LA ROUE. After a series of introductory shots of the cast (including a lingering CU of Séverin-Mars, whose death is reported in a preceding title, and three increasingly close shots of Ivy Close dissolving into one another), its several scenes allow us to glimpse something of the making of this remarkable film.

We see the railway-yard set, built so close to the lines that a warning system has to alert the crew whenever a train passes, the cameramen and Gance showing how a huge train passes only a matter of inches from the walls of Sisif's house. There are glimpses of the incredibly precarious platforms for the cameras and crew, attached to the sides of fast-moving trains; the sight of a huge generator being pushed along the train lines and an accompanying glimpse of them shooting a night scene; a small hand-pushed rail-cart following the main train as a scene is shot entirely on the move; the complexities of creating rain over a set; the three-wheeled platform-cum-tripod that allows the cameraman to crank whilst being smoothly manoeuvred across a set (used in the mechanics' tavern sequence); the crew swarming around a moving train, creating steam and rain as the scene is shot aboard the engine—the train and crew disappearing from the documentary camera into huge clouds of steam…

There are several touching moments of humour: Burel and Gance laughing whilst filming perched on the coal piles of a moving train; a title making fun of Gance's “questionableâ€

[Knappen]

All members on this forum seem to live an extremely busy existence... but most manage to squeeze in two or three films each day anyway. I too should have the jap Gance dvd by now but the trading is going a bit slowly. I'll post on this disc when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Did you mention where you saw these rarities? Is it part of your Gance study project?

As for Beethoven, it seems to be out since september.

... but you can never know with René Chateau. I ordered Sous le ciel de Paris by Duvivier from Alapage today. My first buy, so I can't say anything but it was very simple to order and any person without much knowledge of french could do it.

Another thing you could do is post on the french forum dvdclassik.

Although the site is francophone, you could surely make a polite commentary/question in english and ask about length etc for the Beethoven dvd.

[La Clé du Ciel]

Sigh… I ordered BEETHOVEN from alapage a few weeks ago… they have since sent me two apologetic emails telling me it's going to take a while longer… Their last email said: “Malgré nos nombreuses tentatives, nous n'avons pas obtenu d'informations précises de nos interlocuteurs pour l'approvisionnement attendu.â€

[Knappen]

René Chateau only accepts cheques...

I posted for you on the dvdclassik site - hopefully someone will reply.

[La Clé du Ciel]

Blast...

And thank you!

[Ste]

As a Welles collector, I am keen to pick up Austerlitz on DVD, but my half-arsed research attempts have so far turned up just this one French release from Studio Canal. My high-school French being what it is, I really need a version with English subtitles, or failing that, a reasonable dub.

Are there any other DVD versions out there?

[Knappen]

Clé:

I think this comment from a french poster on the other forum sums it up:

"C'est vrai que les sorties RC c'est compliqué....deja pour nous francais on doit aller en magasin généralement pour vérifier mais pour les etrangers j'imagine meme pas..."

[La Clé du Ciel]

Well, I have good news and bad news:

The good news is, I finally have a copy of the French dvd of BEETHOVEN.

The bad news is, it isn't the full cut. This states its runtime as 110 minutes, a PAL-ed version of the 116 minutes that is the current US release.

Well, I suppose we shouldn't have expected much… but still… sigh…

From what I've seen so far, I think the image quality is better. Although still riddled with scratches, the picture looks sharper and more detailed. The sound is still murky, as if it were recorded underwater – but I don't suppose it's that great to begin with (this is 1936). I shall give you some image captures to compare the discs before too long. And I'll also upload some images from LA DIXIEME SYMPHONIE (really)…

[Knappen]

It seems to me René Chateau is not the kind of company that will spend a lot of ressources on presenting a complete and restored print of a film that exists in different versions: their goal is probably to make available decent copies of films otherwise not available. All in all the dvds from RC offer no more extra goods than a vhs. That said, their recent Grémillon releases (to take just an exemple) have been superb and so many holes in old french cinema have been filled by these enthousiasts.

My Paris connection has finally the time for a new trade and is copying the jap disc with J'accuse/Dixième symphonie as we speak. Will post.

Clé, what did you think about Vénus aveugle? At least the opening is a visual treat, n'est-ce pas?

[HerrSchreck]

In NAPOLEON news, Coppola is going ahead with his lawsuit against Photoplay and the BFI. There is (almost no) hope of mediation and (some) hope of settlement. But it could take years. Years. And a lot of money from the BFI funds.

In what juristiction is the case taking place? Because if under the auspices of a european court my suspicion is Coppola will get his schlumpy goddam ass handed to him. An irritated, well-cultured elderly judge will blast his arrogance with a, creative if neccessary, reading of the law which says something along the lines of.. "Yes, you bought rights to the distribution of the film in the version presented on your Home Video Presentations.. that is, the film's sum as was understood to exist at the time and therefore scored to a correspondingly appropriate length. You got what you bought when you bought it. You did not copyright portions of your father's score NOT YET WRITTEN, against the possibility of FUTURE DISCOVERIES... you have no score product to correspond to these post-rights-acquisition discoveries-- why not sue the next Number One Hit you hear on the radio by claiming "I was just about to write the same thing precisely!"; and the idea that you think you somehow in an ex post facto way leapt this caveat for free, by buying music rights to the film as existed at the time of rights-acquisition... that is to say, the fact that you think that you negated the ongoing risk (that ever-exists in the medium of silent film scoring) of the ever-unfolding process of Historical Uncovering and Rediscovery thru Unearthing... the fact that you think you purchased rights to as yet undiscovered material... that you think that you bought the future... and adding to all this the fact that the composer himself is deceased and therefore unavailable to amend his score to the appropriate corresponding length... and yet the fact that despite all this you Mr. Coppola would send your team here to sully this hallowed fine court with this outrageous tissue of spoiled dickcheese-- it makes me want to leap over this fine polished oak and kick you inna nuts and swap the floor with your tiresome beard and beret, you fat fucking has-been, and kick you across the Atlantic and jettison you forever back inta that tired waystation you call a vineyard." (Lifts scented handkerchief and gestures limply toward door) "Now go and befoul Europe no longer you pathetic culture-hating and selfish prick!"

[La Clé du Ciel]

I will reply in a few minutes, when I've stopped laughing.

[HerrSchreck]

It's all we can do-- aside from supporting the BFI with pounds sterling-- to keep from weeping, the situation is so absurd.

[La Clé du Ciel]

I've now had a chance to compare the two dvds of BEETHOVEN. The new French dvd is far better for image and sound. There are still many instances of damage in the picture and these occur at the same moments as the US dvd, suggesting a shared origin. However, the US copy looks fuzzy and beaten-up enough to have been taken from a worn 16mm source. The French transfer is clearly from a good 35mm print. The sound is still rather muffled in the new French copy, but is certainly an improvement over the US release (and the film was made in 1935 on not too vast a budget, so we shouldn't expect much from the sound anyway).

Perhaps the most noticeable differences are the fact that the US version has a couple of scenes in a different place. It starts with Beethoven's visit to the mourning neighbour (preceded by the title telling us this), whereas the French version starts with what might be called the “garden partyâ€

[HerrSchreck]

Many thanks for a sublime post as usual. Always a pleasure..

[Knappen]

I am sorry to say that I have been spreading wrong information about japanese Gance releases. The parisian trader has now sent me the films and the copies are only average vhsrips. These films have travelled in vhs versions sometime in the eighties and come back digitalized twenty years later. A jap dvd didn't sound so far-fetched at the time since there is plenty of classic french cinema out in Japan that is not available elsewhere. The copy of La dixième symphonie is the Ballard version.