Napoléon

by Nelly Kaplan

Abel Gance's film, restored through the efforts of Kevin Brownlow, is discussed here by Kelly Kaplan. Formerly Gance's assistant, and later, with such productions as The Pirate's Fiancee, Kaplan became a film director in her own right. The book features a brief production history and a detailed filmography.

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 1994

About the author

Nelly Kaplan (born 11 April 1931) is an Argentine-born French writer who focuses on the arts, film and filmmakers. She studied economics at the University of Buenos Aires. Passionate about cinema, she abruptly put her studies on hold to go to Paris to represent the new Argentine film archive at an international convention and later became a correspondent for different Argentine newspapers. She met Abel Gance in 1954, who gave her the opportunity to work on the film La tour de Nesle.

She became his assistant during the film and showed the program Magirama (triple screen) in Polyvision, then, still at Abel Gance's side, she collaborated with him on Austerlitz. He trusted her with the direction of all the second crew's action scenes during the filming of his movie Cyrano et d'Artagnan.

Meanwhile, she published her work about Magirama under the name Le Manifeste d'un art nouveau, with a preface by Philippe Soupault. In 1960, she published a film report entitled Le Sunlight of Austerlitz, through the Plon publishing house.

Starting in 1961, she directed an entire series of art shorts, which won numerous prizes in various international festivals. Among these shorts were "Gustave Moreau," a brilliant analysis of a genius painter at the origin of essentially all modern art; "Rudolphe Bresdin," the engraver; "Dessins et merveilles," on the sketchbooks of Victor Hugo, as well as "Les années 25 ", " La Nouvelle Orangerie " ; "Abel Gance hier et demain ", " A la source, la femme aimée ", titles based on the secret notebooks of the painter André Masson.

(from Wikipedia)