Abel Gance

Directing

Abel Gance

Born — Died

1889-10-25 — 1981-11-10

Place of birth

Paris, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

58 titles

Abel Gance (October 25, 1889 – November 10, 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse (1919), La Roue (1923), and Napoléon (1927). He was born in Paris in 1889. In 1909, he acted in his first film. He also wrote scenarios, and often sold them to Gaumont. During this period he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, fatal at the time, but he recovered. In 1911, with some friends he established a production company, Le Film Français, and began directing his own films. With the outbreak of WW I, rejected by the army on medical grounds, he started writing and directing for a ne…

Known for

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Omnibus poster
7.2

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Omnibus

1967

Cinépanorama poster
8.7

No synopsis available yet.

Cinépanorama

1956

Ciné regards poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Ciné regards

1978

Pour le plaisir poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pour le plaisir

1964

No artwork available
9.0

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma

1978

Film credits

1980s · 1 titles

1920s · 5 titles

Series credits

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Omnibus poster
7.2

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Omnibus

1967

Cinépanorama poster
8.7

No synopsis available yet.

Cinépanorama

1956

Ciné regards poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Ciné regards

1978

Pour le plaisir poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pour le plaisir

1964

No artwork available
9.0

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma

1978

Behind the camera

Austerlitz poster
6.7

Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor and fights the English, Austrians and Russians in 1802.

Austerlitz

1960

Austerlitz poster
6.7

Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor and fights the English, Austrians and Russians in 1802.

Austerlitz

1960

Cyrano and d'Artagnan poster
5.9

In 1642, the Kingdom of France is in a state of permanent political turmoil marred by various plots. King Louis XIII is the official ruler but political power lies in the hands of wicked Cardinal Richelieu. Some take the side of the King, others the Cardinal, and a few the Queen. The Queen plots against Richelieu and intends to secretly request the help of the King of Spain. Meanwhile, two poor Frenchmen from Gascony, Cyrano de Bergerac and d'Artagnan, meet on the road to Paris where they seek fame and fortune. de Bergerac intends to serve the Queen while d'Artagnan aims to join the King's musketeers. The two become close friends and live a series of swashbuckler adventures and a few romantic exploits.

Cyrano and d'Artagnan

1964

Cyrano and d'Artagnan poster
5.9

In 1642, the Kingdom of France is in a state of permanent political turmoil marred by various plots. King Louis XIII is the official ruler but political power lies in the hands of wicked Cardinal Richelieu. Some take the side of the King, others the Cardinal, and a few the Queen. The Queen plots against Richelieu and intends to secretly request the help of the King of Spain. Meanwhile, two poor Frenchmen from Gascony, Cyrano de Bergerac and d'Artagnan, meet on the road to Paris where they seek fame and fortune. de Bergerac intends to serve the Queen while d'Artagnan aims to join the King's musketeers. The two become close friends and live a series of swashbuckler adventures and a few romantic exploits.

Cyrano and d'Artagnan

1964

Napoleon poster
7.9

A biopic of former Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant 1797 invasion of Italy.

Napoleon

1927

Napoleon poster
7.9

A biopic of former Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant 1797 invasion of Italy.

Napoleon

1927

Four Flights to Love poster
6.4

In pre-World Ward I in Paris, a budding artist, Pierre LeBlanc, falls in love and marries Janine, a dressmaker's assistant. Pierre has a flair for designing clothes, and he and his bride live in a blissful paradise, until the war breaks out and he becomes a soldier. Janine dies in childbirth and, no longer desiring to live, Pierre volunteers for a dangerous patrol behind German lines. While recuperating in the hospital from a wound he received on the mission, Pierre spends his time drawing sketches of dresses. He becomes rich and famous after the war. Years later, after devoting himself to his daughter, Pierre seeks a marriage with a girl no older than his daughter. A conflict develops and to ensure his daughter's happiness, Pierre sacrifices his own plans.

Four Flights to Love

1939

Four Flights to Love poster
6.4

In pre-World Ward I in Paris, a budding artist, Pierre LeBlanc, falls in love and marries Janine, a dressmaker's assistant. Pierre has a flair for designing clothes, and he and his bride live in a blissful paradise, until the war breaks out and he becomes a soldier. Janine dies in childbirth and, no longer desiring to live, Pierre volunteers for a dangerous patrol behind German lines. While recuperating in the hospital from a wound he received on the mission, Pierre spends his time drawing sketches of dresses. He becomes rich and famous after the war. Years later, after devoting himself to his daughter, Pierre seeks a marriage with a girl no older than his daughter. A conflict develops and to ensure his daughter's happiness, Pierre sacrifices his own plans.

Four Flights to Love

1939

The Life and Loves of Beethoven poster
6.8

Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

The Life and Loves of Beethoven

1937

The Life and Loves of Beethoven poster
6.8

Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

The Life and Loves of Beethoven

1937

J'Accuse poster
6.5

After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.

J'Accuse

1938

J'Accuse poster
6.5

After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.

J'Accuse

1938

Tower of Lust poster
5.1

France, the beginning of the XIV century. Every night, Queen Margaret of Burgundy and her two sisters arrange orgies, to which beautiful nobles are invited. The young men were brought blindfolded, and after a night of love they were killed and their corpses thrown into the river, because the queen was afraid that her husband would learn about her adventures. One of her lovers managed to escape death. He knows the secrets of the queen, knows that she once gave birth to a son from him, claims that he has evidence that Margarita wanted to kill her father and blackmails her.

Tower of Lust

1955

Tower of Lust poster
5.1

France, the beginning of the XIV century. Every night, Queen Margaret of Burgundy and her two sisters arrange orgies, to which beautiful nobles are invited. The young men were brought blindfolded, and after a night of love they were killed and their corpses thrown into the river, because the queen was afraid that her husband would learn about her adventures. One of her lovers managed to escape death. He knows the secrets of the queen, knows that she once gave birth to a son from him, claims that he has evidence that Margarita wanted to kill her father and blackmails her.

Tower of Lust

1955

Napoléon Bonaparte poster
8.7

A second version of Gance's Napoléon, with sound.

Napoléon Bonaparte

1935

Napoléon Bonaparte poster
8.7

A second version of Gance's Napoléon, with sound.

Napoléon Bonaparte

1935

Captain Fracasse poster
6.7

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

Captain Fracasse

1943

Captain Fracasse poster
6.7

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

Captain Fracasse

1943

The Novel of a Poor Young Man poster
6.8

Maxime de Champcey, a bankrupt marquis, is hired by the wealthy Laroque and falls for his daughter Marguerite. She loves him too but rejects him under the belief he's a fortune hunter.

The Novel of a Poor Young Man

1936

The Novel of a Poor Young Man poster
6.8

Maxime de Champcey, a bankrupt marquis, is hired by the wealthy Laroque and falls for his daughter Marguerite. She loves him too but rejects him under the belief he's a fortune hunter.

The Novel of a Poor Young Man

1936

Queen Margot poster
7.1

Marguerite de Valois, daughter of Catherine de Médicis, celebrates her wedding with Henri de Navarre. Officially, it's a rapprochement between the League and the Huguenots. In fact, it was an opportunity to bring all the Huguenots to Paris and kill them all at once. King Charles IX fails in his attempt on Coligny's life. Queen Margot tries to save her husband from the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre by preventing the annulment of his marriage, forcing Henri to share her bed. Two knights from opposing camps are wounded and, saved în extremis, are hidden together by the queen and her cousin. Margot falls in love with one of them, but has to run to warn her husband of a new attack...

Queen Margot

1954

J'Accuse poster
7.4

The story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.

J'Accuse

1919

J'Accuse poster
7.4

The story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.

J'Accuse

1919

Lucrezia Borgia poster
5.3

French silent film pioneer Abel Gance directs this 1935 classic about Lucrezia Borgia, her brother, Cesare. and her father, Pope Alexander VI -- one of history's most ruthless and ambitious crime families.

Lucrezia Borgia

1935

Lucrezia Borgia poster
5.3

French silent film pioneer Abel Gance directs this 1935 classic about Lucrezia Borgia, her brother, Cesare. and her father, Pope Alexander VI -- one of history's most ruthless and ambitious crime families.

Lucrezia Borgia

1935

The Woman Thief poster
10.0

The woman thief evades a young lady who is onto his game, but then tries his wiles elsewhere on a married woman by attempting to compromise and ruin the husband she is happy with.

The Woman Thief

1938

The End of the World poster
5.2

The plot concerns a comet hurling toward Earth on a collision course and the different reactions to people on the impending disaster.

The End of the World

1931

The End of the World poster
5.2

The plot concerns a comet hurling toward Earth on a collision course and the different reactions to people on the impending disaster.

The End of the World

1931

The Zone of Death poster
NR

French silent film by Abel Gance. Considered lost.

The Zone of Death

1917

The Zone of Death poster
NR

French silent film by Abel Gance. Considered lost.

The Zone of Death

1917

No artwork available
NR

L'infirmière is a 1914 silent film.

L'infirmière

1914

The Queen and the Cardinal poster
7.0

A hero of the Paris streets is recruited for a conspiracy against Mazarin in the court of the King, but he reveals the subversive plot to Anne of Austria.

The Queen and the Cardinal

1935

The Queen and the Cardinal poster
7.0

A hero of the Paris streets is recruited for a conspiracy against Mazarin in the court of the King, but he reveals the subversive plot to Anne of Austria.

The Queen and the Cardinal

1935

The Torture of Silence poster
5.2

A doctor, specialist in pediatrics, has no time for his wife Marthe. She seeks solace in the arms of his brother. Unable to keep up the charade, Marthe attempts to shoot herself, but it is her lover who is mortally wounded.

The Torture of Silence

1917

The Torture of Silence poster
5.2

A doctor, specialist in pediatrics, has no time for his wife Marthe. She seeks solace in the arms of his brother. Unable to keep up the charade, Marthe attempts to shoot herself, but it is her lover who is mortally wounded.

The Torture of Silence

1917

La Roue poster
7.3

Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult, Sisif grapples with whether to tell Norma the truth about her parentage.

La Roue

1923

La Roue poster
7.3

Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult, Sisif grapples with whether to tell Norma the truth about her parentage.

La Roue

1923

La Roue poster
7.3

Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult, Sisif grapples with whether to tell Norma the truth about her parentage.

La Roue

1923

La Digue poster
NR

La digue is a 1911 silent film

La Digue

1911

La Digue poster
NR

La digue is a 1911 silent film

La Digue

1911