The long and flamboyant career of the French filmmaker is depicted in Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite (1968), a documentary created for the BBC by film historian and Abel Gance scholar Kevin Brownlow. A Blue Ribbon winner at the American Film Festival of 1976, this documentary, along with Brownlow's history of silent film The Parade's Gone By and his restoration of Gance's 1927 Napoleon, was instrumental in bringing Gance's cinematic genius to a new generation of film enthusiasts.

The documentary employs footage from Napoleon, La Roue (1923), and J'Accuse (1919) to reveal Gance's pioneering techniques, which included work with hand-held cameras, wide-angle lenses, rapid cutting and three-screen projection. Filmmaker/critic Lindsay Anderson narrates.

Among Brownlow's many other film-related documentaries are Unknown Chaplin (1983), Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987), Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989), Garbo (2005) and I'm King Kong!: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005).

Director: Kevin Brownlow
Screenplay: Kevin Brownlow
Cinematography: Chris Menges
Film Editing: Kevin Brownlow
Cast: Lindsay Anderson (narrator)
BW-60m.

by Roger Fristoe