Guy Glenny

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This film was too ambitious - you can't do justice to Napoleon's life in 2.5 hours. There have been two TV versions of War and Peace, both of which ran to 10 - 15 hours. That is what is needed if you are seriously going consider the many facets of Napoleon's life as a military genius, administrator and lover. It should probably have been titled Napoleon and Josephine because that was where the film seemed to be focused. Someone mentioned that Joachim Phoenix was channeling Marlon Brando - that's exactly how I felt - he grunted his way through with a French/American accent. He did not hold a candle to Rod Steiger's Napoleon in Waterloo (1970). Vanessa Kirby however was outstanding as Josephine. There were some excellent battle scenes. However even these were curtailed and did not really provide much of an insight as to what was going on. What happened to his Marshalls - Ney, Soult, Berthier, etc - they hardly got a look in?

Napoleon

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I have just finished reading Nelson’s Folly. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Nelson’s life through the prism of a novel, which added a new dimension to his life, and particularly to those of Fanny and Josiah, who tend to play secondary roles in the various Nelson biographies. I also very much enjoyed the descriptions of the various places depicted in the book, and the conversations between the characters involved. Both helped to transport the reader back to life in the late 18th Century.

Nelson's Folly