Napoleon on St. Helena
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Napoleon on St. Helena |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1929 |
| length | 75 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Lupu pick |
| script |
Willy Haas , Lupu Pick |
| production | Peter Ostermayr -Produktion GmbH, Berlin |
| music | Willy Schmidt-Gentner |
| camera |
Fritz Arno Wagner , Robert Baberske , Ludwig Lippert , Friedrich Weinmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Napoleon auf St. Helena is a German silent film by director Lupu Pick - who also wrote the screenplay based on a draft by Abel Gance - from 1929 . The film is also known under the titles St. Helena: The Captive Emperor in Germany, and The Prisoner of St. Helena in Austria.
action
The last chapter in the life of the great emperor. After the defeat in Waterloo, Napoleon is brought to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic by order of the English government , where he is subjected to the petty harassment of his conquerors. Hudson Lowe, the English governor, makes life difficult for him. Napoleon has no more tasks to do on St. Helena, just waiting to grow old. He is initially looked after by a small, loyal following, but one by one they piss off him.
In his loneliness he relived the big wrong decisions of his life in the battle of Waterloo . Only the presence of Madame Bertrand sometimes illuminates his existence, which has become bleak. When Napoleon learns from the newspaper that his wife, the Austrian Princess Marie Louise, is expecting a child from a strange man, he becomes ill and dies.
background
The film was made from December 1928 to May 1929 in the Efa studios in Berlin, the outdoor shots on St. Helena and in Marseille .
Lupu Pick took over the direction of Abel Gance, who originally wanted to shoot the film as the third part of his big Napoleon film. The buildings for the film were designed by Erich Zander and Karl Weber ; Emil Pirchan created the costumes . Werner Krauss played Napoleon again in One Hundred Days in 1935 .
criticism
“(…) No oil pressure poses, no roaring visions of war, no misguided heroic pathos. Willy Haas, who wrote the script together with Lupu Pick, did without any plot effects that were subsequently added. He summarizes the material as history has passed on it again in an epic sequence of images in which the words that Napoleon spoke in St. Helena group themselves into a harrowing monologue of loneliness. Of course, one could argue that this form of documentary representation does not enrich the film as such. That it means a restriction, a limitation of the cinematic imagination. And in fact the danger of monotony has not been completely overcome by the director Lupu Pick. But when you have to choose between Abel Gance and Pick, between film as a costume theater and film as a spiritual experience, the decision is not difficult. (...) “Hans Sahl in: Monday Morning, Berlin, November 11, 1929
The lexicon of international films believes that Napoleon on St. Helena is "primarily interesting from a film-historical perspective".
Web links
- Napoleon on St. Helena in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Napoleon on St. Helena at filmportal.de (with contemporary reviews)
Individual evidence
- ^ Napoleon on St. Helena in the Lexicon of International Films . Retrieved July 24, 2011