Kubrick's Napoleon reviews
Review by on 24 Sep 2010
An educational and entertaining presentation giving an insight into the rather neurotically organised mind of a real film legend. Punctuated by fantastic commentary from a charismatic and ever so slightly eccentric Jan Harlan whose facts and anecdotes were tactfully corrected by an unbelievably well informed Alison Castle. Perhaps not the most fluid presentation of the images and video, but this is something I can easily forgive. This was my festival highlight so far.
Review by on 23 Sep 2010
KUBRICK'S NAPOLEON is the greatest film that never was. Listening to Jan Harlan tell the story of its aborted production it seems clear that we lost what could have been a classic.
Jan, Stanley Kubrick's brother-in-law, and producer for nearly thirty years, is an amusing speaker: bearded, waist-coated and with a distinct German accent he animatedly tells the history of the failed project with an enthusiastic and engaging manner. It’s hard not to share Jan's enthusiasm. Following the completion of his eighth feature length film, Kubrick turned his thoughts towards a new project. An epic production that would chart the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Kubrick's preparation for his new film was characteristically meticulous. Alison Castle, the second speaker at the evening's talk, and editor of two comprehensive books on the 'Kubrick archives', demonstrated with slides the breadth of the material Kubrick collected: boxes of notes; hundreds of books; thousands of slides; and a trunk full of script rewrites. His pursuit of making - in his own words, the 'greatest movie ever made' - was nothing short of exhaustive. Yet despite his previous successes, the funding was cut, and the film was never made.
It’s a standard Hollywood story, but it seems clear that the film Kubrick wanted to make had the potential to change cinema on just as fundamental level as any of his most genre-breaking films. The loss of such an intriguing piece of film makes an interesting tale in its own right, and was well worth attending.
Julian Harris
Jan, Stanley Kubrick's brother-in-law, and producer for nearly thirty years, is an amusing speaker: bearded, waist-coated and with a distinct German accent he animatedly tells the history of the failed project with an enthusiastic and engaging manner. It’s hard not to share Jan's enthusiasm. Following the completion of his eighth feature length film, Kubrick turned his thoughts towards a new project. An epic production that would chart the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Kubrick's preparation for his new film was characteristically meticulous. Alison Castle, the second speaker at the evening's talk, and editor of two comprehensive books on the 'Kubrick archives', demonstrated with slides the breadth of the material Kubrick collected: boxes of notes; hundreds of books; thousands of slides; and a trunk full of script rewrites. His pursuit of making - in his own words, the 'greatest movie ever made' - was nothing short of exhaustive. Yet despite his previous successes, the funding was cut, and the film was never made.
It’s a standard Hollywood story, but it seems clear that the film Kubrick wanted to make had the potential to change cinema on just as fundamental level as any of his most genre-breaking films. The loss of such an intriguing piece of film makes an interesting tale in its own right, and was well worth attending.
Julian Harris
Review by on 21 Sep 2010
Kubrick's "Napoleon" event v interesting; level of SK's obsession re project was astonishing; what a film it might have been!!!
