I saw the Ridley Scott Napoleon movie and was bitterly disappointed. I was ready to forgive some inaccuracy – a movie is like an historical novel, you expect some changes to be made to help the story flow, but there seemed no story unless it was Napoleon’s relationship with Josephine – but to me the inaccuracies were not there to help the story; they seemed perversely willful; firing cannon at the pyramids? (the battle was fought almost ten miles away). Napoleon leading a cavalry charge at Waterloo (utterly risible) and, disgracefully, a British officer calling his men to go ‘over the top’ as they scrambled from a trench at Waterloo (there were no field fortifications on either side). There had to have been an historical consultant on the film, but either he slept through the making of the film or else he was ignored. There were plenty of other inaccuracies, but for me the greatest flaw was that it in no way explained or even showed Napoleon’s greatness. He was a great man, an enlightened ruler, a magnificent administrator, and, plainly, a talented military leader. Instead he appeared as a petulant, irritated little man. Wellington said that Napoleon’s presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 men – no sign of that and Augereau – a foul mouthed fighting general if ever there was one – confessed that Napoleon ‘terrified’ him. No sign of that either. As for Wellington, the poor man hardly appeared – his longest exposure being a ridiculous meeting with the Emperor on board HMS Bellerophon, which never happened and, if they had met, then believe me the conversation would have been far more interesting than the one concocted by the screen-writer.
I remember the 1970 movie well and Rod Steiger made a terrific Napoleon, while Christopher Plummer was good as Wellington, but that film was forever ruined for me by a sequence in which the British infantry were shown in line with three battalions lined up one behind the other. Each fired in turn, the two battalions in front crouching so the third could fire over their heads – the muskets of the rearmost battalion would have killed men in both other battalions – it was spectacular (especially the charge of the British Heavy Cavalry) but spoiled by nonsense.
In truth I’m still waiting for the great film about that era and just hope I live long enough to see it - but Napoleon was a dreadful disappointment!