Customer Reviews

Napoleon: The Myth, The Battles, The Legends

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While this DVD set lacks finesse in its presentation, it nevertheless captures the life and battles of Napoleon remarkably well. With the assistance of historians from Cambridge and other universities we are led through a good synopsis of Napoleon's life. The recreated battle scenes are a little crude; animation or contemporary art and illustration would have been better, and the DVD set is a tad pricey. If you are history buff, however, you will find it entertaining. A bonus is the complete Memoirs of Napoleon on the DVD in Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Book Reader formats.

Napoleon, a two-DVD set of Cromwell Productions, will be of interest to a wide audience. Paintings, prints, letters, diary extracts, interviews with leading Napoleonic historians, and the narration of Robert Whelan help viewers get a better appreciation for Napoleon Bonaparte who defined his era more than any of his contemporaries. The two downsides in this series are 1) the recreation of battle scenes that are most often rudimentary and 2) the repeated, superfluous presence of a fictitious Napoleonic Boy playing with soldiers spread on a map.

In Volume I, Cromwell Productions opts for a chronological approach to its subject. Volume I successively covers the rise of Bonaparte from obscurity, his early campaigns, and finally the imperial zenith that he enjoyed for a few years before his boundless ambition finally brought him down. To its credit, Cromwell Productions not only reviews the military exploits of one of the greatest commanders of all times, but also the important role that Bonaparte played in modernizing the institutions of France.

In Volume II, Cromwell Productions focuses on three failed campaigns that undermined Bonaparte's control of Western Continental Europe, i.e., the disastrous invasions of Spain and Russia, and of course, Bonaparte's final downfall at Waterloo in modern Belgium in 1815 C.E. Volume I will probably be more interesting to those viewers who are just looking for a general introduction to Bonaparte.

Among the special features are the Memoirs of Bonaparte by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Bonaparte's private secretary.

To summarize, this two-DVD set does a good job at reflecting on the personality of a multi-faceted man who has his fans and detractors. Few people can remain indifferent to such a towering presence.