Gance, Abel

(October 25, 1889, Paris, France - November 10, 1981, Paris, France)

   The illegitimate son of a physician, Abel Flamant, he was educated by his mother and his stepfather, a mechanic named Adolphe Gance. He had to work as a lawyer clerk to earn his living but intended to become an actor. He wrote poetry (Un Doigt sur le Clavier) and plays (La Dame du Lac, La Victoire de Samothrace). He made his stage debut at the Théâtre du Parc of Brussels in 1908 and then played in vari­ous Parisian theaters (L'Ambigu, l'Athénée, la Porte Saint-Martin). He began working for cinema as a screenwriter for Gaumont (1909 Le Glas du Père Césaire, short, Anonymous; La Légende de l'Arc-en-Ciel, short, Anonymous, Molière, short, also actor, Léonce Perret; La Mort du Duc d'Enghien en 1804, short, Al­bert Capellani; 1910 L'Alumniste, short, Anonymous; Le Crime du Grand-Père, short, Léonce Perret; Cyrano et d'Assoucy, short, Albert Capellani; Le Portrait de Mireille, short, Léonce Perret; Le Roi des Parfums, short, Anony-mus; Un Clair de Lune sous Richelieu, short, Albert Capellani; Une Aventure de Paganini, short, Etienne Ar­naud; 191I L'Electrocuté, short, Camille de Morlhon; La Fin de Paganini, short, Etienne Arnaud; 1912 L'Auberge rouge, short, Camille de Morlhon; La Conspiration des Drapeaux, Anonymous; Le Tragique Amour de Mona Lisa / La Joconde, short, also actor, Albert Capellani; La Vengeance d'Edgar Poe, short, Anonymous; 1914 L'Infirmière, short, Henri Pouctal; 1915 Sous l'Uniforme / Sous l'Epaulette, short, Camille de Morlhon; 1929 Napoleon auf St-Helena, Lupu Pick, Germany; 1954 La Reine Margot / La regina Margot / UK: A Woman of Evil / USA: Queen Margot, Jean Dréville, France / Italy; 1956 La Roue, also producer, André Haguet). He turned a director in 191I and played in some of his films and those of others (1912 Bandit par Amour / Max Bandit par Amour, short, Max Linder; Max Linder contre Nick Winter, short, Paul Garbagni; 1914 La Tache, short, Maurice Le Forestier; 1928 La Chute de la Maison Usher / UK and USA: The Fall of the House of Usher, Jean Epstein; 1963 Abel Gance, Hier et Demain, documentary, short, Nelly Kaplan). He produced Le Petit Poucet (Robert Boudrioz, 1920) and supervised the shooting of L'Âtre / Au Creux des Sillons (also producer, Robert Boudrioz, 1922), Le Maître des Forges (Fernand Rivers, 1933), and La Dame aux Camélias (also producer, Fernand Rivers). He published articles on cinema: 1926 Le Temps de l'Image est venu (in L'Art cinématographique, Editions Alcan); 1927 Napoléon vu par Abel Gance (Editions Plon); 1930 Prisme (Editions Gallimard); 1953 Les Nouveaux Chapitres de notre Syn­taxe (in Les Cahiers du Cinéma, October 1953); 1954 Départ vers la Polyvision (in Les Cahiers du Cinéma, December 1954). Other credit (as narrator): 1953 Lumière (TV documentary, short, Paul Paviot). He pat­ented several technical inventions for the panoramic screen, polyvision, and variable screen (1926) as well as sound perspective (with André Debrie, 1932) and the pictograph (1938).

 Filmography

        ◘ La Digue / Pour sauver la Hollande (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Nègre blanc (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Pierre Philosophe (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Il y a des Pieds au Plafond (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Masque d'Horreur / USA: The Mask of Horror (short; also screenwriter)

1914 ◘ Un Drame au Château d'Acre / Les Morts revien­nent-ils? (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Folie du Docteur Tube (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Fleur des Ruines (also screenwriter)

        ◘ L'Héroïsme de Paddy (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Strass et Cie (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Fioritures / La Source de Beauté (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Fou de la Falaise (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Le Périscope (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Ce que les Flots racontent (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Gaz mortels / Le Brouillard sur la Ville (also screenwriter)

1917 ◘ Le Droit à la Vie (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Mater Dolorosa / USA: The Torture Mother (also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Zone de la Mort / USA: The Zone of Death (alo screenwriter)

1918 ◘ La Dixième Symphonie (also screenwriter)

        ◘ Ecce homo / Le Soleil noir (unfinished)

1919 ◘ J'accuse! / USA: I Accuse (also screenwriter)

1922 ◘ La Roue / USA: The Wheel (also screenwriter; shot in 1920-1921)

1924 ◘ Au Secours! / UK: The Haunted House / USA: Help! (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Napoléon / Napoléon Bonaparte / UK and USA: Napoléon / Napoléon Bonaparte's Napoléon (also screenwriter; shot in 1925-1926)

        ◘ Marines et Cristaux (triple-screen short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Fin du Monde / USA: End of the World (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter; shot in 1929)

        ◘ Mater Dolorosa (also screenwriter, dialogist)

        ◘ Poliche

        ◘ Napoléon Bonaparte / Napoléon Bonaparte, vu et entendu par Abel Gance (abridged sound version of Napoléon)

        ◘ Le Roman d'un jeune Homme pauvre Fucrèce Borgia / USA: Lucrezia Borgia J érôme Perreau, Héros des Barricades / UK and USA: The Queen and the Cardinal

        ◘ Un Grand Amour de Beethoven / UK: Beethoven's Great Love / USA: The Life and Loves of Beethoven (also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Le Voleur de Femmes / Il ladro di donne (shot in double version; also screenwriter, adapter; France / Italy)

        ◘ J'accuse! / USA: I Accuse / That They May Live / I Accuse (That They May Live) (also co-screenwriter)

1939 ◘ Louise (also co-adapter)

1940 ◘ Paradis perdu / UK: Paradise Lost / USA: Four Flights to Love (also co-screenwriter)

1943 ◘ La Vénus aveugle (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist; shot in 1940)

        ◘ Le Capitaine Fracasse / La maschera del cuore (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, France / Italy)

1944 ◘ Manolete (unfinished)

1953 ◘ Quatorze Juillet (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ La Tour de Nesle / La torre del piacere (also screenwriter, adapter, co-dialogist)

        ◘ Magirama (five shorts: Auprès de ma Blonde/ Château de Nuages, Fête foraine, J'accuse!, 14 Juillet)

1960 ◘ Austerlitz / La battaglia di Austerlitz / Napoleone adAusterlitz / USA: The Battle of Austerlitz (co-director with Roger Richebé; France / Italy / Yugoslavia)

1964 ◘ Cyrano et d'Artagnan / Cyrano e d'Artagnan / Cyrano y d'Artagnan (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; France / Italy / Spain; shot in 1962-1963)

1971 ◘ Bonaparte et la Révolution (new edition of the 1927 and 1934 versions of Bonaparte)

 Television Filmography

        ◘ Marie Tudor (co-director with Jean Chérasse; also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Valmy (three-part documentary: La Chute de la Royauté, Chronique de l'Eté 1792, Bataille et Naissance de la République)