Remastered 1920s masterpiece by Abel Gance, once thought lost and now re-scored by Carl Davis, will also have a cinematic run

Napoleon, Abel Gance’s five-and-a-half-hour epic from the silent-movie era, has been digitally restored and is to be released on DVD and in cinemas.

The BFI has announced details of a new chapter in the remarkable history of the 1927 French film, which was feared lost until the film historian Kevin Brownlow set about piecing it together by tracking down surviving prints more than 60 years ago.

The film will be shown in cinemas, on DVD and will become available on the BFI Player this autumn, accompanied by Carl Davis’s score, which he wrote for the then-partially restored film’s screening at the London Film Festival in 1980.

In November the film, which dramatises Napoleon’s youth and early career, will be screened at the Festival Hall with a live performance of Davis’s score – the longest ever composed for a silent film – by the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Heather Stewart, the BFI’s creative director, paid tribute to several generations of staff at the BFI who have worked on the project. “Napoleon is a landmark in the history of cinema and we are grateful to all of the great talents who have helped us along the way but especially, of course, Kevin Brownlow for his indefatigable championing of the film and Carl Davis for his amazing score.”

Brownlow is far from being a household name but he is a significant figure in his field. A film-maker, historian and archivist, he received an honorary Academy Award in 2010, nominated by Martin Scorsese, who wrote: “Mr Brownlow is a giant among film historians and preservationists, known and justifiably respected throughout the world for his multiple achievements … On a broader level, you might say that Mr Brownlow is film history.”

Brownlow first saw a 9.5mm version of the film as a schoolboy in 1954 and it changed his life. He spent more than 50 years tracking down surviving prints of Napoleon from archives around the world.

The DVD and theatrical release represents the culmination of the project, with Brownlow calling it “a tremendous step forward for film history”.

• This article was amended on 29 January 2016 to credit the photographer in the photo caption.

