The Napoleon script is one of Kubrick’s unrealized projects, a magnificent «what might have been». The script is dated September 29, 1969, and while the text has a certain polish and concision, suggesting that much work had already been devoted to each individual scene as well as to the overall structure, the scenes are not numbered, which indicates that this particular version of Napoleon is not a shooting script. The specific draft number, however, is missing from the title page. There is no way of knowing how much more work Kubrick may have wanted to undertake on the way to arriving at a shooting script. That said, the screenplay seems closer to a final draft than to a first draft.
The screenplay suggests that Napoleon would have been a magnificent visual experience, a feast for the eyes. Epic in scope, the screenplay is full of grand imagery, notably in the final section, Napoleon’s conquest of Russia, in which, for example, the French army marches into a deserted Moscow, which is described as an eerie ghost town. The battle scenes would have been grandiose and spectacular. The many sumptuous interiors and the splendor of the costumes would have contributed to the dazzling effect. In the «Production Notes» Kubrick relates that he has located an extremely fast lens which will allow him to shoot interiors by candlelight. Obviously Napoleon would have had the majesty and grandeur of Barry Lyndon’s cinematic style. WhileNapoleon is the film that never was, Barry Lyndon was born from its ashes, and remains Napoleon’s close relative.
