The New "petit journal du cinema"

Short (I hope so at least) pieces -- usually developed from commentary and other supplementary material provided on DVDs. but sometimes from other sources which detail ideas I might consider germane. I would invite readers to visit my stand-alone blog "The Bernanos Letter" which investigates the controvery which surrounds François Truffaut writing "A Certain Tendency of french Cinema" www.the-bernanos-letter.blogspot.com

Monday, March 19, 2007

Albert Dieudonne and Napoleon's ghost.

Transcribed from the subtitles on Cinema Europe : the other Hollywood (Photoplay Productions ; directed and produced by David Gill & Kevin Brownlow ; written by Michael Winterbottom, Dan Carter) Albert Dieudonné who played Napoleon in Abel Gance's classic silent film about that legendary emperor, tells this story of going to Fountainebleau castle and a visit that he paid in costume to on of its night-watchmen who was forever claiming to be visited by the ghost of Napoleon.

"I flung open the door. I was in uniform and I said, "Asleep on duty, Matat?" The poor fellow woke up completely bewildered, rubbed his eyes and stared at me. Then I went. Next day, he told the curator D'Esparbes about it. He confessed that in the past he'd been joking a little but this time he'd really seen Napoleon. Unfortunately, the poor soul died eight days later and I may have been one of the causes."

posted by jdcopp at 4:17 PM

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Name: jdcopp
Location: Boston, Ma

If I am asked if I believe in first impressions, I explain that I am a cubist.

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