Austerlitz (1960)

Director:

Abel Gance

Writers:

Abel Gance (writer)
Nelly Kaplan (writer)

Release Date:

1960 (Yugoslavia)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Another of Napoleon's adventures in this epic reconstruction of the battle of Austerlitz, where he had the greatest victory of his career...

Plot Keywords:

Napoleon Bonaparte | 1800s | Emperor | Battlefield | Based On Historical Events

Cast

Pierre Mondy	...	Napoléon Bonaparte
Martine Carol	...	Joséphine de Beauharnais
Claudia Cardinale	...	Pauline Bonaparte
Leslie Caron	...	Mlle de Vaudey
Vittorio De Sica	...	Pope Pius VII
Elvire Popesco	...	Laetitia Bonaparte
Jean Marais	...	Carnot
Michel Simon	...	Alboise
Orson Welles	...	Robert Fulton
Georges Marchal	...	Le maréchal Jean Lannes
Jack Palance	...	General Weirother
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Ségur fils
Rossano Brazzi	...	Lucien Bonaparte
Jean Mercure	...	Talleyrand
Anna-Maria Ferrero	...	Elisa Bonaparte

Also Known As:

Battaglia di Austerlitz, La (Italy)
Napoleone ad Austerlitz (Italy)
The Battle of Austerlitz (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:166 min | France:166 min | USA:122 min

Country:

France | Italy | Yugoslavia | Liechtenstein

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L

Company:

Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques (CIPRA)

Trivia:

In the 1920s, Abel Gance had written a six-part movie biography of Napoleon. He shot the first part (Napoléon (1927)), which turned out to be a financial disaster. He sold the sixth part to Lupu Pick who shot Napoleon auf St. Helena (1929). Wanting to make a come back at the end of the fifties, he rewrote the third part to make it "Austerlitz".

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the scene in William Pitt's office in London which is set in the early 1800's, you can see in the background through the window the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, 60 years before they were built.

Strategy

I believe the reason after so many votes that no one has decided to offer a review of this film is because it appears so hard to define it as a film. This is much more a tedious, detailed account of Napoleon's victory at the battle of Austerlitz. The film focuses so much on the strategic underpinnings of the battle that is almost seems more like watching a risk or stratego game than a film. From the political maneuvering of how the French and Russian forces came to the battle to the strategic genius that was Napoleon this film does not offer much in the way of character development, acting, or even special effects. What the film does offer is a historical recount of how battles were fought in the early 19th century. The only interesting cinematic points of interest is to look for a young Jack Palance as a Russian General and a scene stealing Orson Welles as an American inventor. Also this was one of the last films directed by the French "DW Griffith" - Abel Gance.