Gance, Abel

Napoleon ( Visual )
10 editions published between 1981 and 2006 in English and held by 362 libraries worldwide
A historical epic on the life of Napoleon from boyhood to military triumph including treatment of the French Revolution.

Napoléon by Abel Gance ( Book )
13 editions published between 1927 and 2006 in 3 languages and held by 210 libraries worldwide
Napoleon is a film biography of the famed French leader. Abel Gance makes the viewer as much a particiant in the action as the actors. It shows an early version of split screen and superimposition techniques.

La roue The wheel ( Visual )
3 editions published in 2008 in English and held by 191 libraries worldwide
Sisif, a railwayman, and his son Elie fall in love with the beautiful Norma (whom Sisif rescued from a train crash when a baby and raised as his daughter), with tragic results. This seminal film introduced many innovations in set design and construction, and cinematic devices.

J'accuse ( Visual )
4 editions published between 2008 and 2009 in French and held by 189 libraries worldwide
J'accuse is a World War I drama considered to be one of the most technically advanced films of the era and the first major pacifist film. It was referred to by Gance as "a human cry against the bellicose din of armies." Stars Marise Dauvray as Edith, a young woman who is unhappily married to an older man, François (Séverin-Mars), but is actually in love with a young poet Jean Diaz (Romuald Joubé). Both Jean and François end up on the front lines of World War I while Edith is captured by German forces and suffers atrocities at the hands of the soldiers. Gance contrasts individual human suffering with the larger horrors of war, depicted with stark realism.

J'accuse ( Visual )
1 edition published in 1991 in French and held by 166 libraries worldwide
A strange man, obsessed by the horrors of war, calls upon the millions of dead soldiers from World War I to rise from their graves and march upon the cities of the world.

Napoleon ( Visual )
22 editions published between 1926 and 2004 in 7 languages and held by 120 libraries worldwide
A biography of Napoleon.

Abel Gance's Napoleon ( Visual )
7 editions published between 1986 and 2004 in 4 languages and held by 83 libraries worldwide
Epic biography of the French general, the new edition has been reconstructed and presented with a symphony orchestra accompaniment. Credited with important early use of split screen, moving camera, Polyvision and Russian montage.

Abel Gance, ou, Le Prométhée foudroyé ( Book )
2 editions published in 1983 in French and held by 73 libraries worldwide

Beethoven Un Grand amour de Beethoven ( Visual )
6 editions published between 1936 and 2003 in French and held by 60 libraries worldwide
Covering the years from 1801-1825, this is the story of how Beethoven falls in love with one of his students, Juliette, but she loves another, so he throws himself into his work. His hearing fails him off and on, and he plans to marry Therese, another student who is devoted to him, but he cannot. He loves Juliette. His hearing gone for good, he is very poor, and in the end he dies a pauper.

Lucrèce Borgia ( Visual )
5 editions published between 1983 and 2000 in French and English and held by 58 libraries worldwide
Lucrèce Borgia: Cesare Borgia sees a way to obtain power when his father Rodrigo is named Pope and lets nothing stand in his way, not even his family members. Also included are two rarely seen shorter silent films directed by Gance: "Au Secours!" uses experimental editing and photography to illustrate a man's adventures in a haunted house. "La Folie Du Docteur Tube" is an experimental comedy about a mad scientist who discovers a sneezing powder that can alter someone's physique.