"Which was the best Napoleon?" Topic

This is the tittle of a quiz from a French forum about who was the best actor in the paper of Napoleon Bonaparte.

It took my atention that Marlon Brandon had not votes (??)
Even one!.

I agree that the most voted (Phillipe Torreton)was the best who act and looks like him (hope you had seen the movie "Monsieur N").
This is the statistic list.

"Albert Dieudonné (Napoléon et la Révolution d'Abel Gance) 17%
Marlon Brando (Désirée, d'Henry Koster) 0%
Pierre Mondy (Austerlitz, d'Abel Gance) 11%
Daniel Mesguich (Joséphine ou la comédie des ambitions, de Robert Mazoyer) 11%
Philippe Torreton (Monsieur N, d'Antoine de Caunes) 35%
Rod Steiger (Waterloo, de Sergueï Fiodorovitch Bondartchouk) 17%
Autres … 5%

Take note that Rod Steiger (THE Napoleon from a great movie) had a creditable 2nd place.

Only to share.

Amicalement
Armand

Oh all, right, I guess somebody has to do it….

YouTube link

I'm still waiting for a biopic about Napoleon starring Monsieur DeVito.

Where is Ian Holm in The Emperors' new clothes?

Yes, Ian Holm did a great job.

Brando in Desirée was fine. I see Armand Assante in Napoleon and Josephine must have appeared in "les autres."

Interesting poll.

I'm still waiting for a biopic about Napoleon starring Monsieur DeVito.

Napoleon wasn't short.

Napoleon wasn't short.

No, but his caricature was.

Rod Steiger

I guess the following were included in Les Autres

Herbert Lom in War and Peace 1956 directed by King Vidor

Vladislav Strzhelchik War and Peace 1965/67 Sergei Bondarchuk directing

and possibly my favorite

James Tolkan Love and Death 1975 directed by Woddy Alan

"Napoleon wasn't short."

Of course not:

link

"Five foot one is not small!"

"They're all freaks! Not one under five foot six!"

Whether he was five foot two (Antommarchi) or around five foot six (Corvisart), he was short.

Allen

"Napoleon wasn't short."

And Al Gore never said that he invented the internet.

But sometimes, your enemies get to write your history.

Lom by far in Vidor's War and Peace.

Bob Coggins

Never, ever watch "Waterloo" having seen "A Fist full of Dynamite" ("Duck you sucker" in the US) you'll have visions of Napoleon as a cicken thief bandit because of Rod Steiger.

These Napoleons were quite good:

YouTube link

YouTube link

Arthur Lowe did a good Napoleon in one episode of "Dad's Army"

Actually, Arthur Lowe would do a good one. You could almost imagine Le Mesurier doing the Duke on a good day with the wind behind him.

Whether he was five foot two (Antommarchi) or around five foot six (Corvisart), he was short.

Which feet do you think this is? It's not English feet.

Contemporary pictures show him to be perfectly ordinary size (except when standing by Old Guard Grenadiers, selected for their height).

The myth dies hard, but he wasn't short.

Le Mesurier did actually do the Duke of Wellington in the same episode, Grizzlymc.

Earth X Napoleon, died fighting the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths Four.

He wasn't tall.

He sure looks shorter than his wife and the Pope according to the drawing of his wedding.

In state propaganda paintings, he looks shorter than the other consuls Cambaceres and Lebrun.

I can't find any evidence of him being taller than anybody in France.

He wasn't short: link

Flashman

Nice posting but it will probably fall on deaf ears! Some people would rather believe the negative myths concerning Napoleon. It fits in with their narrow minded world.

But that darn picture you posted has mad me hungry. Gotta get a cake now. Only Napoleonic pictures should be allowed!

"Nice posting but it will probably fall on deaf ears! Some people would rather believe the negative myths concerning Napoleon. It fits in with their narrow minded world."

Really? Seems to me it's the same myths about Napoleon *not* being short that are repeated endlessly and inaccurately.

Dr. Antommarchi conducted Napoleon's autopsy, and it was reviewed by British doctors. It gave his height as five feet, two inches. Which inches, you ask? Thue usual Heightist culprits claim that rather than using the English inch, this was measured in Royalist inches, which they assess at 2.71 cm to the inch, giving us 1.68 m, or 66.1 English inches. Inexplicably, this seems to be typically rounded up to five foot *seven*.

(If you use the more accurate figure of 2.707 cm per inch for the pre-Revolutionary pouce--times 62 inches--on conversion to English inches at 2.54 cm per, you get 66.076 inches. If you separate feet and inches, with 32.48 cm per pied de roi, you wind up with a bit less: 66.0685 English inches. Where does six foot seven come from?)

Likewise, Dr. Corvisart had measured Napoleon in 1802 as being five foot two (and described him "of short stature", but that seems to be conveniently overlooked by the Heightists). Again, the presumption is that this measurement was taken in pre-Revolutionary pouces.

And all this ignores history, which informs us that pre-Revolutionary measurement was chaotic, and was replaced in 1795 by the law of 18 Germinal, Year III, giving France the *metric system* (which is why they don't sell Quarter Pounders with cheese in France, Brett).

But unfortunately for the Heightists, Napoleon had reconciled himself to the same blinkered anti-metricism we still see today, and in 1812 had instituted the mesures usuelles, in which the pouce was a whopping 2.788 cm. This would put Napoleon at a lofty 68.05 inches, a regular giant among… Napoleons, I suppose.

So did Napoleon's doctor in 1802 violate the law of the land to measure the midget Corsican in Royalist pieds and pouces rather than the lawful metric system? Was his autopsy--remember, signed by British doctors--conducted in pre-Revolutionary measurements (5'6") or the still lawful mesures usuelles (5"8")?

And must we ignore all the descriptions, the physical depictions, and his preserved clothing--all of which confirm that he was a little fellow?

Suck it up. Bonapartists! He was a shortie, whether it pains you or not. Of course, from my perspective, even 5'8" is a wee, wee man.

Allen

As a person of short stature myself [5'5" English], I have no problem with Napoleon being shorter than average – indeed, I prefer it so, as demonstrating that one does not need to be a beanpole to be talented, successful &c.!

Nelson was certainly small, and so was the great Waterloo historian and modelmaker William Siborne.

Rifleman Benjamin Harris of the 95th commented in his memoirs of the retreat to Vigo in 1809 that it was the tall, lanky men who fell out on the march; the short, stocky chaps kept on going.

Don't forget Ian Holm has played Napoleon three times!

Robert Vaughan…

Terry Camilleri …

And must we ignore all the descriptions, the physical depictions, and his preserved clothing--all of which confirm that he was a little fellow?

You haven't addressed the link I provided – in particular the points 1) When surrounded by Guard – who had height requirements, he was relatively short – hence "le petit corporal" and numerous descriptions and 2) the average height of a Frenchman was 5'5". So relative to his countrymen he was not too far from average.

You may be right but, as stated, your argument is only half argued.

(which is why they don't sell Quarter Pounders with cheese in France, Brett).

I would like to think that the reason for this is that the French have palateable alternatives.

The link you provided just spouts the same unattributed opinions as many others on the Web, which just seem to feed on each other. They generally all ignore the contemporary accounts which assess his lack of height. For entertainment value, wade through:

link

And that's not the only thread on that subject on that forum, which suggests a certain defensiveness regarding the facts.

Allen

Alain

Patrick Stewart was the best Napoleon

That McDonalds poster is not real. It's British propaganda.

Napoleon was not of "average" height simply because he was not "average" anything. He was far, far better than all of those around him, including the Germans, who started two world wars and didn't win either of them. The Nazis were utterly horrible, a monstrosity upon history, and the regular army committed most of the atrocities on the Eastern Front, which should not be ignored.

I have read a great many books that don't have anything to do with this, or any other topic being discussed here, but I am going to threaten to list them because I am insecure and perpetually angry, and because it will divert everybody from a pointed discussion of whatever basic facts I have gotten wrong or made up. It really is a pity that people can't post here without stooping to insults because the world would be a much better place if only we all acted like gentlemen. I will now pretend to misunderstand your response in order to take umbrage in a long, divergent non-sequitur.

Alan

If I was a juvenile delinquent with nothing to do I would make 100,000 stickers of that poster and graffiti Paris with them.

Good god! What terrible atrocities les Anglais perpetrate on la belle France!

On can only conclude that he shrank in the wash.

"I will now pretend to misunderstand your response in order to take umbrage in a long, divergent non-sequitur."

And very well done, sir, I must say.

But non, mes enfants, that is the genuine article:

And adjusted for inflation:

I rather like the idea of a Royal-O-Fish.

link

Allen

Sept Euros pour les Nuggets?! C'est une honte!

YouTube link

(and whats with the custard slice?)

The choice is very easy Rod Steiger HE IS NAPOLEON do I have to go on anymore?

Also what's the thing with the food images?

Captain Gideon

If Napoleon had a vote he'd vote Terry Camilleri:

In any case he was a giant amongst men.

But not much of a bowler.

Ian holm get my vote ! Not sure what the film was called but he set about selling melons in Paris (I think !) He did better selling melons then he did at waterloo and I ain't talking railway stations !

Ian Holm "Little People Hitting Each other…"

Terry Camilleri is a solid runner up.

In a dream I once had, a young Al Pachino played a young Napoleon. Ah well…

The best Napoleon is the brandy one can drink!