Austerlitz (aka The Battle Of Austerlitz) (1960)

A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte (Pierre Mondy) detailing his crowning as Emperor of France and his political dealings of the time. This is followed by the historic battle of Austerlitz, a victory for Napoleon against the Russian and Austrian forces in 1805. Directed by Abel Gance. Gance's epic NAPOLEON (1927) is considered one of the great films of the silent era and anyone who has seen it on the big screen can never forget it. Alas, some 33 years later director Gance has revisited Napoleon with much less favorable results. It looks great in wide screen and color courtesy of Henri Alekan (WINGS OF DESIRE) but it's a stodgy elephant of a movie. I have to be upfront however. I saw the English dubbed version which is cut by some 40 minutes (though it still runs over two hours). I suppose the extra 40 minutes might add something though I have my doubts. The large cast includes Orson Welles, Leslie Caron, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Louis Trintignant, Martine Carol, Michel Simon and Anna Maria Ferrero.