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Roue, La (1923)

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16 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
recommendation, 21 November 2006
Author: rschmeec from United States

Gance seems overwhelmed by the theme of humanity crushed by incredible suffering, and some of the symbolism may seem heavy-handed, but this film deserves to be listed among the greats for its wonderful cinematography, the strong contrasts between the first parts portrayal of trains and the second parts moving to the beautiful, impassive scenery of the high Alps.

I have always been an admirer of Gance's Napoleon, but his J'accuse turned me off. La Roue has restored my desire to see the others: La fin de monde, Beethoven, and Austerlitz.

As for the suffering, this was made in 1921 in the aftermath of WW I, which is sufficient to account for Gance's obsession with the theme.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic, 20 June 2008
Author: MichaelElliott1 from Louisville, KY

Roue, La (1923)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

French master Abel Gance's 260-minute epic tells the story of Sisif (Severin-Mars), a railroad worker who discovers a young girl named Norma after a horrible train wreck. Sisif takes the girl home to his young son Elie where he plans on raising them as brother and sister. Flash forward several years and Elie (Gabriel de Gravone) has started to fall in love with Norma (Ivy Close) even though he thinks she is his sister. At the same time Sisif has also fallen in love with her, which leads the two men down a road of tragedy. A lot of the epic films released after The Birth of a Nation dealt with epic themes, usually something to do with war, but that's not the case here as you would call this a film that deals in melodrama and character study. It's rather amazing that Gance would try to take this material and push it to over eight hours, which was the original running time. I was a little worried going into this version, running 260-minutes but it turned out to be a great beauty of a film. I really don't think the film ran too long and in fact, the running time goes by quite fast but the only thing I'd question is some of the stuff that we go through two or three times. This includes one character attempting suicide numerous times and I think this could have been handled in a different way. The legendary editing is the main highlight of this film as it goes in a maniac style way. There are numerous edits each second during certain scenes and I'm really not sure if it could be done better even with today's standards. Even though the editing is quite sharp and fast, it never gets in the way of the story trying to be told. Another fascinating aspect is when the main character starts to go blind. The director then turns the visuals on screen to an all white setting to where we're seeing things just like the character who is going blind. the final sequences of the film are quite beautiful and haunting and really puts everything we've seen before it into justice. I think for the most part that the performances are good but I think at times the director would have been wise to bring them down a little bit. Severin-Mars really steals the film as the love struck father who is slowly losing his mind, life and eyes due to the love his has for the girl he raised as his daughter. Close gives the weakest performance of the three but she still handles the screen quite well. La Roue is certainly a demanding film to sit through but at the end of the film I was quite happy to take the ride and this is certainly a film that every film buff should see at least once in their life.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautifully made movie!, 14 July 2007

Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is not only a greatly made and constructed movie with a nice story, it's also visually a great one to watch, with lots of style in it and with some wonderful cinematography. The movie even features some early moving camera shots.

The train-crash in the beginning of the movie (which is a real classic in my book!) is brought really great to the screen, with some nice fast cuts to build up the tension. It's done in a way you normally wouldn't expect from a '20's movie. The movie features a couple of more sequences like this. Apparently this is the First ever movie that features 'rapid' editing in it, a technique pioneered by Abel Gance.

The movie doesn't use that many title cards and the movie mostly uses its images to speak for itself. It's perhaps also one of the reasons why the movie is much longer (depending on which version you're watching of course) than most others but it Works pleasant that the movie doesn't use that many title cards. It makes the movie a real visual orientated one and its, once again, fast editing makes sure that the movie never drags and no sequences ever become overlong, with of course still a couple of exceptions here and there.

The movie is made with lots of style and the directing is great. It features some great style filled sequences such as a couple of 'dream-like' sequences, point-of-view shots, use of shadows only and use of mirrors, among many other things.

The story itself is original, even today. It's basically a love-story but an unusual one, when both father and son (among others) fall for the same girl, who also happens to be the adopted daughter. It provides the movie with some nice typical (melodramatic) genre elements that all feel original and well conceived. Especially the way the father gets torn and confused by the love for the girl is done in a great way, although the whole part when the father tries to commit suicide gets perhaps stretched out a bit too much. The movie takes some nice dramatic twists that also add to the movie its originality. Abel Glance obviously also knew how to tell a story well! The last third of the movie is definitely the most powerful. Lots of dramatic events occur that work out really well. Also the ending is definitely one worth remembering!

The movie is obviously old fashioned and so it the acting. Totally unacceptable by todays standards of course but it adds all the more to the movie its nostalgic and classic feeling of the earliest days of cinema.

A must-see for every movie lover! Absolutely one of the greatest!

10/10

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful but much too long for this sort of melodrama, 14 July 2008

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Abel Gance's monstrously long tale of a train engineer. his son and the girl he takes in and raises as his own. Clocking in at four and a half hours this is still only a fraction of the the three part close to eight hour version that Gance originally created. I won't go into the story of the three years of filming and the tragedies that struck during the filming of the movie, which would make a wonderful film unto itself.

The story begins when Sisif returns to work one day just as a train wrecks in the yard. He pulls a young girl, Norma, from the wreckage and adopts her as his own, bringing her home to live with him and his son. The children are small enough that they simply assume that they are brother and sister. Later as time goes on the children grow, but the family remains in poverty thanks in part to Sisif's drinking and gambling. He is secretly in love with his "daughter" as his his son who makes a living making violins. Also in love with Norma is a well placed engineer who is helping to keep Sisif safe and out of trouble so that he might wed her. As the wheel of life turns and crushes those in its way the lives of everyone take unexpected and not very happy turns.

I'm at sixes and sevens about the film. Certainly its dated badly in some regards. the actor playing Sisif often looks into the camera and plays directly to the audience in a style thats at best over done. Some sequences are clearly unreal. Many interiors were filmed outside since you can see the shifting sun lighting them. And the film is simply put way way way too long at four and a half hours (I can not imagine what the full cut was like).

And yet the film has power at times that is undeniable. The film has a sense of place that can not be matched. Its clear that this was filmed in and around the train yards where it all takes place. The sense of reality is probably is almost unmatched in any film. The photography and montage is among the finest I've ever seen. There are shots of trains running on the rails that need to be hung on walls. Additionally the way the film is cut together is unlike any other film. No one manages to cut like this, I can't imagine what this was like in 1923. The images in images (The scenes of Norma in the train smoke for example) are haunting- more so when you think of how Gance had to put together pretty much in camera. From a technical stand point the quote about the film that's in the publicity for the DVD restoration about how the movie changed after this film is probably dead on. Technically this is like watching lightning. The story is, while melodramatic and potboiler like, affecting and had the film not dragged on as long as it did I would have probably loved the film instead of liked it.

Is it worth seeing? If you're a cinema nut absolutely. Its amazing at times. If you're not a fan of film and really don't like silent film stay away from it because it will probably overwhelm you in the wrong way.

Between 6 and 7 out of 10- with moments that are off the scale.

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9 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Watching the wheels, 6 May 2006
Author: dbdumonteil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Let's put is straight: "la roue" is a very long movie and ,in spite of its very high rating,it's not for all tastes.It was initially an eight-hour movie,the IMDb gives a 273 min running time ,but the version which circulates in France does not exceed three hours:is that all?

Unlike "J'accuse" and "Napoleon" ,I would

not go as far as saying that "La roue" has not aged a bit.For it has,particularly the screenplay which consists of a dreadful melodrama.As a story teller ,Gance does not equal his American counterpart David Wark Griffith whose "Intolerance' (the "modern" segments) might have influenced him.

Gance's work ,even cut to three hours is still too long and its several incredible moments get buried in the whole .Because ,technically,the film is often a tour de force: the train accident will take your breath away;the way Gance blends his characters with the things which surround them was innovative. .He does not forget fantasizing: the stained-glass window which gives birth to a three-dimensional world where Elie and Norma can live an imaginary happy life which they will never know.His death in the mountains.Sisif's silhouette ,his big cross on his shoulder ,climbing a Golgotha-like peak.But I would put the last scene above all:Sisif is dying and a small engine falls from his hand;he has hallucinations as a giant train appears in the sky;and a group of mountaineers ,dancing in a ring,and going away ,becoming a tiny circle.....the final wheel.

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2 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
An amazing but practically unwatchable film!, 18 May 2008

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film is a very, very, very long movie about a railroad engineer who's infatuated with his adoptive daughter. While somewhat incestuous and creepy, it gets worse as her brother who does NOT know that she isn't his biological sister also falls for her! In fact, practically every man around this sweet young lady goes mad and is willing to kill to possess her!

This is a very hard film to rate and I am sure I'll irritate legions of old movie buffs when I say that despite LA ROUE being an amazing film with wonderful cinematography, it is also a MAJOR chore to force yourself to watch the entire film. I really feel sorry for the initial audiences for the movie, as it was an 8 1/2 hour film! Then, because no sane audience wanted to see such an interminably long film, it was trimmed to 5 hours. Today, a recently restored version is almost 4 hours--and in my opinion, this is STILL way too long. An hour and a half EASILY could have been trimmed, as the film had way too many lengthy shots of nothing in particular, artsy shots, scenes and plot elements that were irrelevant and scenes that just went on too long. I understand that this was Abel Gance's artistic vision, but he just didn't exercise restraint. The film still desperately needed a good editing.

The same dilemma exists when you hear discussions about Erich Von Stroheim's GREED. For years on IMDb, I have watched the silent film board abound with comments about how sad it is that his original 9 hour film no longer exists. Von Stroheim threw a giant temper tantrum back in 1924 when the studio insisted it be trimmed because of a stupid need to actually make money from his 30003023 reel behemoth and ever since people in the know have longed to see the original. Well, I saw the shortened version of GREED and it was a pretty good film--thus making me some sort of Neanderthal.

Now I am NOT saying all films need to be short--I love a good 3 hour epic and have even seen the Russian version of WAR AND PEACE twice and it's almost 7 hours long. Heck, I saw both mini-series WAR AND REMEMBRANCE and WINDS OF WAR (at about 32 hours long), so I like long things if there's a need. A film about the origins of WWII and WWII itself justified the excessive length.

So what am I trying to say? Well, long is just fine when the plot will sustain it and there is a legitimate reason to make such a long and complex film. Films about very, very complex events justify being long. A rather simple plot like you have in LA ROUE about a rather crazed man's infatuation with his adopted daughter just didn't justify so many reels of film.

The bottom line is that while I respect LA ROUE for being so ground-breaking, beautiful to watch and artfully made, it just made me want to watch it on DVD while using the fast forward button! Okay, silent film snobs--get ready with the "not helpful" comments! Before you slam me, do understand that I have watched and reviewed more silent films than practically anyone so far on IMDb, so I DON'T hate silents--I love them in fact. It's just that I couldn't for the life of me encourage non-silent lovers to watch LA ROUE--as it will probably make them think that silent films are bad or outdated. There are so many great silent films waiting to be seen and only a very, very patient audience could possibly sit through this film.

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