Movies by Abel Gance

The Life and Loves of Beethoven

The Life and Loves of Beethoven

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

End of the World

End of the World

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

J'accuse

J'accuse

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.

Napoléon Bonaparte

Napoléon Bonaparte

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

The Madness of Dr. Tube

The Madness of Dr. Tube

A scientist develops a powder that he believes will have the effect of distorting reality for those who take it. To test its effect tries it out on his assistant, a dog, himself and two young couples.

The Tenth Symphony

The Tenth Symphony

Composer Enrid Damor knows nothing of the past life of his new wife Eve Dinant : she lived as a debauchee with an adventurer, Fred Ryce. Fred Ryce meets Damor's daughter, Claire, and tries to marries her. He blackmails Eve. Enric learns something about her and Fred and composes a symphony to express his pain... The Tenth Symphony is considered the first major film of the Impressionist movement.

Blind Venus

Blind Venus

Vénus aveugle (Blind Venus) is a 1941 French film melodrama, directed by Abel Gance, and one of the first films to be undertaken in France during the German occupation. Although the film is not set in any specified period, Gance wanted it to be seen as relevant to the contemporary situation in France. He wrote, "...La Vénus aveugle is at the crossroads of reality and legend... The heroine ... gradually sinks deeper and deeper into despair. Only when she has reached the bottom of the abyss does she encounter the smile of Providence that life ...