Abel Gance could be considered the first “blockbuster” film director. His epic film “Napoleon” in 1927 was well ahead of its time in terms of camera work and technology. Gance used a three-camera panorama process, using three projectors and a curved windscreen to create the total panoramic view, a first in film at the time. He was also the first director to film in color, and this was well before the classic Wizard of Oz came out. (More people should know that it was Gance who first shot in color, but that seems like a long tasks going door to door to pass that information along. Perhaps a mass worldwide e-mail will suffice?) The problem with Gance’s Napoleon was that it was a smashing success in Europe, of course, because Napoleon ruled France and France of course is in Europe. Needless to say, Napoleon bombed in America, but not as bad as Michael Bay’s Transformers 2. Gance was primed for a shot at greatness, but America, being the film snobs that we are (see classics such as Big Momma’s House and Justin Bieber 3D) shut out Gance because he didn’t “connect” with us. Maybe he should have done a movie about farts or a buddy cop movie, America usually loves those!
