Today, it's exactly 210 years and six months ago that the Battle of Waterloo took place. EFSP presents the oldest film we have written about till now, the 1903 Pathé Frères film Épopée napoléonienne / The Life of Napoleon. The film consists of two parts: Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte and Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire (grandeur et décadence). The silent short was directed in 1903 by Lucien Nonguet and covers highlights of the life of Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821). Postcards for the film were published by PC and Rex. Interestingly, some of the cards refer to famous paintings about the life of Napoléon.
French postcard by PC, no 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for either Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoléon à Brienne (The snowball fight at school in Brienne).
French postcard by PC, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Passage de Pont d'Arcole (Passing the Bridge of Arcole). This postcard seems to have been inspired by Horace Vernet's 1826 painting 'Bataille du Pont d'Arcole'.
French postcard by PC, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Une fête à Malmaison (A garden party in Malmaison). The Chateau de Malmaison in the background seems to have been taken from a painting by François Flameng, 'Reception at Malmaison in 1802' (1894).
Lucien Nonguet was the director of Pathé Frères's first historical film, the silent short Épopée napoléonienne (1903), also known as The Life of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte or The Rise and Fall of Napoleon the Great in the United States.
The film established a characteristic feature of the historical film genre by Pathé Frères. Longuet shot the film in a tableau style and followed the single, unified viewpoint of the autonomous shot-scene. The two parts consisted of 15 tableaux.
The first part, Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte, contains the following tableaux: the snowball fight at school in Brienne, on the Bridge of Arcole, the Campaign in Egypt, the Passage of the St. Bernard Pass and a garden party in Malmaison.
The second part, Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire (grandeur et décadence), covers 10 tableaux: the Coronation, the Battle of Austerlitz, the sentinel sleeping during watch, Napoleon wounded at Regensburg, the Emperor's cabinet, the Burning of Moscow, the Farewells at Fontainebleau, Waterloo - the Fall of the Eagle, the Death of the Emperor, and Apotheosis - the Past and the Future.
Later in 1903, Lucien Nonguet directed the first cinematographic adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's play 'Wilhelm Tell', Guillaume Tell / William Tell (Lucien Nonguet, 1903), again in the tableau style of Épopée napoléonienne.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Le Couronnement (The Coronation). This postcard is a reduced, tableau vivant-like citation of Jacques-Louis David's famous painting 'The Consecration of the Emperor Napoléon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine' (1805-1807), now at the Louvre, Paris.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Austerlitz.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoléon et la sentinelle (Napoleon and the sleeping sentinel).
French postcard by Rex, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoleon was wounded at Regensburg.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: La présentation du Roi de Rome (The Emperor's cabinet).
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Les adieux de Fontainebleau (the Farewells at Fontainebleau). This postcard is vaguely inspired by Horace Vernet's 'Napoléon Leaves the Guard, 1814' (1825).
Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French - Filmography and Collections), Wikipedia and IMDb.
With thanks to Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli.
French postcard by PC, no 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for either Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoléon à Brienne (The snowball fight at school in Brienne).
French postcard by PC, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Passage de Pont d'Arcole (Passing the Bridge of Arcole). This postcard seems to have been inspired by Horace Vernet's 1826 painting 'Bataille du Pont d'Arcole'.
French postcard by PC, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Une fête à Malmaison (A garden party in Malmaison). The Chateau de Malmaison in the background seems to have been taken from a painting by François Flameng, 'Reception at Malmaison in 1802' (1894).
Pathé Frères's first historical film
Lucien Nonguet was the director of Pathé Frères's first historical film, the silent short Épopée napoléonienne (1903), also known as The Life of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte or The Rise and Fall of Napoleon the Great in the United States.
The film established a characteristic feature of the historical film genre by Pathé Frères. Longuet shot the film in a tableau style and followed the single, unified viewpoint of the autonomous shot-scene. The two parts consisted of 15 tableaux.
The first part, Épopée napoléonienne - Napoléon Bonaparte, contains the following tableaux: the snowball fight at school in Brienne, on the Bridge of Arcole, the Campaign in Egypt, the Passage of the St. Bernard Pass and a garden party in Malmaison.
The second part, Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire (grandeur et décadence), covers 10 tableaux: the Coronation, the Battle of Austerlitz, the sentinel sleeping during watch, Napoleon wounded at Regensburg, the Emperor's cabinet, the Burning of Moscow, the Farewells at Fontainebleau, Waterloo - the Fall of the Eagle, the Death of the Emperor, and Apotheosis - the Past and the Future.
Later in 1903, Lucien Nonguet directed the first cinematographic adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's play 'Wilhelm Tell', Guillaume Tell / William Tell (Lucien Nonguet, 1903), again in the tableau style of Épopée napoléonienne.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Le Couronnement (The Coronation). This postcard is a reduced, tableau vivant-like citation of Jacques-Louis David's famous painting 'The Consecration of the Emperor Napoléon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine' (1805-1807), now at the Louvre, Paris.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Austerlitz.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoléon et la sentinelle (Napoleon and the sleeping sentinel).
French postcard by Rex, no. 4156. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Napoleon was wounded at Regensburg.
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: La présentation du Roi de Rome (The Emperor's cabinet).
French postcard by PC, no. 4157. Photo: Pathé Frères. Publicity still for Épopée napoléonienne - L'Empire / The Life of Napoleon (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Caption: Les adieux de Fontainebleau (the Farewells at Fontainebleau). This postcard is vaguely inspired by Horace Vernet's 'Napoléon Leaves the Guard, 1814' (1825).
Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French - Filmography and Collections), Wikipedia and IMDb.
With thanks to Tamara Shvediuk and Federico Striuli.
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