Cultural Depictions of Napoleon - Film and Television

Film and Television

Note: the name immediately following the title of the film is the name of the actor portraying Napoleon

• Napoleon (1918), Louis Feuillade — France/black & white/silent
• Napoleon (1920), Bud Fisher — USA/animation/short
• Napoleon (1927), Albert Dieudonné — France/black & white/epic silent, directed by Abel Gance
• Conquest (1938), Charles Boyer
• A Royal Divorce (1938), Pierre Blanchar
• Désirée (1954), Marlon Brando — USA/color, directed by Henry Koster
• Napoleon (1955) — France/color, with Daniel Gélin as young general Bonaparte and Raymond Pellegrin as the older emperor, directed by Sacha Guitry
• War and Peace (1956), Herbert Lom — USA/Italian, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, directed by King Vidor
• Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956), voiced by Mel Blanc — A Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng where Napoleon matches wits (unsuccessfully) with Bugs Bunny
• Austerlitz (1960), Pierre Mondy — France/colour, directed by Abel Gance
• War and Peace (1968), Vladislav Strzhelchik — USSR, Sergei Bondarchuk
• Amoureuse Joséphine (1974), Pierre Arditi — French TV movie
• Napoleon and Love, a 1974 television series depicting the romantic relationships of Napoleon
• "In the TV film Fairy OddBaby, Jorgen Von Extrangle proposes the name Napoleon to name Poof The Baby.
• Waterloo (1970), Rod Steiger — A Soviet-Italian production produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Sergei Bondarchuk. The film attempts to even-handedly depict the Battle of Waterloo and the events that led to it, abstaining from either wholly endorsing or condemning Napoleon or the English commander, Wellington.
• A Soldier's Farewell, Arthur Lowe, comedy where a soldier dreams that he is Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
• Joséphine ou la comédie des ambitions (1979), Daniel Mesguich — French TV mini-series depicting the life of Joséphine de Beauharnais
• Napoleon & Josephine. A love story (1987), Armand Assante — USA miniseries on ABC
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Terry Camilleri — In this time travel comedy film, Napoleon is one of several historical figures transported to late-1980s Southern California, where he discovers a fondness for ice cream and waterslides, and a hatred for bowling.
• Napóleon (1989), Péter Rudolf — Hungarian TV movie
• Napoléon et l'Europe (1991), Jean-François Stévenin — French TV series
• Napoleon (2002), Christian Clavier — A&E miniseries based on series of books by Max Gallo, directed by Yves Simoneau
• Monsieur N (2003), Philippe Torreton
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Alain Chabat — Napoleon is featured here as one of a group of villains alongside Kahmunrah, Al Capone, and Ivan the Terrible.
• Stanley Kubrick worked on a film project about Napoleon; he never made it and put all his research efforts into the Academy Award-winning film Barry Lyndon.
• In Time Bandits (1981), Ian Holm plays a height-obsessed Napoleon.
• Napoleon is a recurring character, played by Verne Troyer, in the 2000 syndicated television series Jack of All Trades.
• The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX character Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte is based on the cliché Napoleon: he is short (see the debate on Napoleon's height below), pudgy, French, has a short temper, and dresses similarly to Napoleon. He also utilizes a deck with a military theme.
• An animated caricature of Napoleon appeared as a semi-regular on the Warner Bros. series Histeria! Here, he spoke like Hervé Villechaize, who also was French and short in stature. Napoleon hates to be reminded of his short stature (in the episode "When Time Collides!", Miss Information mistakes him for a leprechaun), and he also likes to play the tambourine, which he keeps behind his coat (hence why he keeps his hand in it, as he states in "Great Heroes of France").
• A clone of Napoleon is an occasional minor character in the MTV series Clone High. He is extremely diminutive, somewhat disliked, and has a management position at T.G.I. Chili's. Abe Lincoln claims he has some kind of complex.
• Napoleon appeared in an episode of Robot Chicken as Napoleon Bonamite, a cross between Bonaparte and Napoleon Dynamite.
• In Time Squad, Napoleon is trapped at home to take care of the house after his wife Josephine(who is portrayed as short-tempered and prone to fits of violence) takes up fine arts. Larry, Otto, and Tudrussell help Napoleon sneak out and help with his conquest. His wife finally gives up arts and due to her explosive temper decides to fight alongside him.
• Napoleon is the subject of a fictional film of the same name, with movie star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) portraying the title role in Get Shorty. A billboard appears of Weir in character as movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and Chili Palmer (John Travolta) see as they drive through the city. Weir purposely dines alfresco to look at the billboard.
• Napoleon appears in Blackadder: Back & Forth, portrayed by Simon Russell Beale, as the main antagonist, who takes over the world after Blackadder inadvertently kills Wellington.