This is my first foray into French Cinema history prior to the French New Wave. I just watched a Truffaut film and I've seen many French New Wave films. Some several times, but this is the first time I've watched a film of Abel Gance. La Roue is a silent film of four plus hours in length. I watched the first two hours tonight and will finish watching it over the next few days.
It took me a while to get over my silent film watching block. Initially I couldn't rationalize watching a four hour silent French film. How would this affect the screenplay I'm writing? Shouldn't I watch something more recent? I don't know the answer to either question. All I know is the film is good. Compared to Eisenstein or Griffith or Charlie Chaplin the film is just as good, perhaps even better in some comparisons.
The lead character of the girl, Norma, reminded so much of the biograph girl, but it wasn't her. The drama gets very taut in this picture. The introduction to the film wrote about the fast cutting which has influenced so many filmmakers, that I reminded myself to look for fast editing during the film. It was there. Especially among the train scenes.
I will write more about the film after I watch the entire film.
It is tragic that Gance's magnum opus Napoleon has yet to be restored and released in either DVD or streaming. It's his best film. I'd really like to see it.
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