Movie-A-Day #336: Napoleon (1927).

On this date in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte rather boldly crowned himself emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral. Such a big, brash personality deserves a suitably epic biopic treatment, which Abel Gance provided in the classic silent film “Napoleon.” No other filmmaker has yet tried a sound version of quite such scale. But then again, Gance set the bar pretty high.