Though his career in cinema spanned half a century, French pioneer
Gance remains known mainly for a single film, Napoleon, which pushed
the language of the silent cinema to new heights of visual expression.
However, his earlier work is also impressive, and includes such
imaginative epics as the flamboyant melodrama La Roue and the anti-war
classic J'Accuse. In the sound era, his touch faltered, and long
periods of unemployment were interspersed with inferior remakes of
his past successes. But the advanced technique of his silent films
still seems remarkable, and he deserves re-evaluation as one of the
founding fathers of the French cinema.
