Napoleon 2002 TV series

**Sir Nicholas Altman** · October 04, 2009, 07:07 AM

I just got Napoleon french TV series

It seems very good. Thoughts?

Damn link to the wiki site is not working.

**REQUIEM** · October 04, 2009, 07:44 AM

I've been looking for this everywhere in all the entertainment shops near me and i simply can't find it. but i may have to look online for it!

Where did you get your copy from?

**Kinjo** · October 04, 2009, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by REQUIEM

I've been looking for this everywhere in all the entertainment shops near me and i simply can't find it. but i may have to look online for it!

Where did you get your copy from?

amazon.co.uk

**Sol Invictus** · October 04, 2009, 09:54 AM

It's a great series, though it is forced to gloss over alot of events for obvious reasons. I wish it were twice as long. I guess I have watched it three times over the past year and will watch it again before NTW is released. The Hornblower series is also great and of course Sharpe.

**SunofVich** · October 04, 2009, 10:03 AM

I just recently ordered it from Amazon. Problem is that its the A&E english version and they cut a bunch of stuff out of it. But it should still have plenty of battle sequences in it.

**REQUIEM** · October 04, 2009, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Reiksmarshal

amazon.co.uk

Cheers.

**Nirnaeth Arnoediad** · October 04, 2009, 04:06 PM

I'm french. These films have been made for the french public TV.
I have it and they are very good, historically too.

**jarnomiedema** · October 04, 2009, 04:35 PM

I own the English six hour version on DVD and I have to admit it's absolutely brilliant. One of the main problems I have with it though is that Napoleon is too often shown as a man who was being bullied, rather than being a bully himself. It's a little too pro-Napoleon for my taste, but hey; it was mostly funded with French money. It was a European co-production though, not purely made for French public television. If you look at the lineup of actors and actresses, there are a lot of famous European faces in it..

And ofcourse, let's not forget John Malkovich as Talleyrand, which is one of the best parts in the entire series.

The English version has some of the most horrendous English accents I've heard in my life, but then again, I've also seen the French version on Belgian public television (we also get Belgian tv here in the Netherlands) and in that version the French was excellent, but the non-French speaking actors / actresses all sounded horrible.. So either way you look at it, there's something not quite realistic to it..

Lastly, one of the things that's always bothered me is the depiction of Waterloo. We get some of the great battles of Napoleon's career in this miniseries, but Waterloo is pretty much rushed through (and ofcourse the significant Dutch and Prussian contribution is completely omitted). We do get to see Scotsmen in kilts though.. (Yay!

)

For the production value, it's a great piece of film, for the history, not so much..

**Sol Invictus** · October 04, 2009, 07:25 PM

Yeah, Malkovich was surperb.

**Steve Holt** · October 05, 2009, 01:53 AM

Is the Sharpe TV series any good? I was wondering because I love the books but I'm always reluctant to buy the DVD's whenever I see them in shops.

**Marcus Licinius** · October 05, 2009, 02:05 AM

if you buy it you have to take the books quite loosely, as the first thing that strikes you is that they are in the wrong order (btw don't change the order i did that one and you have him jumping from Lt to Mjr, and vice versa.) also all the books in india are in two 'film' from the last few years. otherwise if you just want a 'film' then they are on a par with Hornblower.

**Steve Holt** · October 05, 2009, 03:24 AM

Ok then, I think I might pick up Sharpe's Eagle and Rifles next time I see them then.

**Invictus XII** · October 05, 2009, 05:25 AM

Yes, i bought the Napoleon miniseries, I got bored on the love scenes with his wife and what not, but being a napoleonic historian of some sort, it was really quite accurate with the details. But i did really enjoy it! 6 hours all up!

**SunofVich** · October 06, 2009, 08:15 PM

Sharpe series was for sale at Costco here in the states. I'm not sure if that is still they case. They were selling them in 3 DVD packages. I got the first 6 episodes.

**Lance-Corporal Jones** · October 07, 2009, 09:35 AM

The 2002 series is absolutely dreadful. The storyline is trite and simplistic, irrelevant characters are shoehorned into the story whereas important ones are ignored, the special effects are ridiculously bad, the battles are theatrical and diminutive, Napoleon is Asterix, Clavier is somehow "rejuvenated" by having long hair, out-of-place, History Channel-style maps are crammed into the storyline, and the British costumes are the worst uniforms I've ever seen on film. And to top it off, they've managed to shoehorn Gerard "Fatso" Depardieu as Fouché... Ridiculous.

There is a French film, however, which is rather good: it's called Austerlitz, with Pierre Mondy, and I must say he does Napoleon justice as a credible figure. Go for Austerlitz.

And of course, (if you're into B&W films) Abel Gance's Napoleon is an absolute must.