Napoleonic Observations
Napoleonic Observations
In which I have a few thoughts about an upcoming movie, podcast about yetis in the underground, and a certain pair of colorful album releases.
I’ve been looking forward to the highly promoted new movie project that promised to be a visually stunning and epic look at the life of Napoleon Bonaparte since it was first announced. So when I was offered the chance to attend an early press screening of the 2hr 40min theater version I jumped at it.
Unfortunately, I left feeling somewhat disappointed, and that what I had watched was a 2-hour plus trailer for what might have been. Had director Ridley Scott tried to take on too much in telling the full story of Napoleon’s rise and fall instead of focusing on one specific aspect or moment?
There are so many jumps on the narrative that if you have any knowledge of Napoleonic era history it will leave your head spinning and wondering why so many important pieces of the story were left out, ignored, or dealt with as almost throwaway lines. I’m also not sure what we were meant to think about Napoleon by the conclusion either (but maybe that was part of the point?)
But there were many positives to enjoy as well. I was fully engaged throughout, the acting was brilliant (especially Joaquin Phoenix in the title role), it was visually stunning and had a great sense of production design, and the battle scenes and recreations were (based on my reading of the period) pretty historically accurate.
It felt in some ways that for this theatrical cut the decision had been made to focus on the Napoleon / Josephine relationship rather than the broader historical/political narrative. In doing so the result was a movie that wasn’t sure if it was a character study or a historical epic, so didn’t really work as either and felt disjointed.
Having said all this I feel that there was so much more to tell that I am now actively looking forward to checking out the 4-hour cut that will be available on streaming.
One side observation that made me smile, in a couple of scenes we see a black senior officer alongside Napoleon, although his name isn’t mentioned I assumed that it is General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (the father of The Three Musketeers author Alexandre Dumas ) who is the subject of an excellent 2013 Pulitzer-Prize winning biography, The Black Count, that I highly recommend for a different insight into post-revolutionary France and the rise of Napoleon.
Other Stuff
Thanks to the new subscribers who have joined since last week. There’s also been a notable increase in readership for the newsletter over the last few weeks. I really appreciate your interest and support. If you’re one of those folks who have recently joined us but haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so by clicking the button below to get each upcoming newsletter delivered straight to your email.
Feed My Need For Coffee
Our intention is that this weekly newsletter will always be a FREE subscription, but if you enjoy what you read here, or any of the other places I hang out online, and feel you would like to contribute, you can now leave a tip over at our new Ko-Fi page by clicking the banner below.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2023 - “Art Brut Vol. 1 - The Winking Woman” by W. Maxwell Prince & Martin Morazzo.
When strange things start happening to the world’s great pieces of art, and the craziness starts to spill over into our world, who are you going to call? You need the services of dreampainter Art Brut and his wooden mannequin sidekick to sort things out by entering the world behind the canvas.
It’s a fun high-concept idea that’s heavy on action and light on characterization. But yet it works, fittingly, due the the excellent art and design work.
Before They Were Beatles Updates
Last weekend was a big Beatles weekend with the release of the remixed, remastered, and extended Red and Blue greatest hits albums. Originally released in 1973, just as I was starting to buy records for myself, these two albums were my gateway drug to appreciating Beatles music, and I was delighted to once more have vinyl copies in hand.
Want to know what I think about the new Beatles song, and the remixed Red & Blue greatest hits album releases in more detail? Well wonder no more for I reveal all in a new bonus episode of the Before They Were Beatles podcast out now
At last, I’ve managed to carve out time to start on the scripts for the first few episodes of the new The Forgotten Beatles podcast series. We are now planning to launch it early in the New Year.
The next issue of the Before They Were Beatles newsletter has been drafted and will go out later this month. if you don’t want to miss out on the expanded story of the early Beatles history, you can sign up for a subscription below.
Podcast Procratinations
I had a lot of fun last week reliving some childhood memories talking about Yetis in the London Underground (aka the Doctor Who story “The Web of Fear” featuring the 2nd Doctor) on the Doctor’s Beard podcast. It’s now available on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues this week as we continue a look at Batman comics from around the world published in July 1968 with issues from Mexico, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The standout had to be the Mexican bi-monthly comic Batman Baticomic (a really fun title) with its local artist’s interpretation of what The Martian Manhunter should look like.
Where on the Web is Alan?
You can now find links to all the places you can find me online, websites, newsletters, social media, and more in a single LINKS page on my personal website.
As always, thanks for joining me this week. If you know someone else who might enjoy the contents of this week’s newsletter, or just my weekly ramblings in general - please feel free to share by clicking the button below.
See you next time
Alan J. Porter