Autograph Letter Signed From French Film Director Abel Gance

Paris: 1 page, quarto, December 19, 1954. Original autograph letter from the great French film director Abel Gance written on his personal printed stationery (7 1/2” x 10 1/4”) recto and verso. The letter is in French and references his cinematic style and personal vision. The translation reads in full: “19 Dec., 1954 / My dear great friend, / How admirable was your letter of Dec. 6 and how I fully share your acerbic melancholy. ?? [sic] I will not stay away for more than 10 years from an art of which I had some reason to think that it would remember my struggles? / Everything is decidedly absurd and I am grateful to you for making it easier for us to understand the mechanisms of such absurdity. What to do? / With Polyvision I will try to create a new form of expression, somewhat in the spirit, all proportions and parallels aside, of what preoccupied Beethoven when Roman Roland wrote: ‘In the midst of bottomless sadness, Beethoven took it upon himself to celebrate Joy.’ He was referring to the 9th Symphony. / Don’t allow things to discourage you. / What’s more, you are our best author. This is too rare for your friends not to defend you ferociously. / Affectionately yours, with all best wishes to you and your wife. / Abel Gance / I am stunned at how sensitive you are! And it moves me mightily.” With creases from folding and one corner neatly clipped, else fine. Gance was referencing his experimental techniques for his classic silent film epic ‘Napoleon’ combining rapid cutting, hand-held cameras, superimposition of images, and, most famously, his wide-screen sequences achieved, with a system he called Polyvision which employed three cameras (and projectors) to create a panoramic effect, including a finale in which the outer two film panels were tinted blue and red, creating a widescreen image of a French flag. Abel Gance (1889 - 1981) was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: ‘J'accuse,’ ‘La Roue,’ and the monumental ‘Napoleon.’