Abel Gance?

Once again TH rides to the rescue. Pretty much as I had hoped. I really liked "the character, elusive and megalomaniac, constantly seems too big for the frame, whether that of his time or that of the camera." Now all we have to do is wait for a release on our side of the Atlantic.

I finally discovered that the issue that prevented the previous release of the four-hour version was the soundtrack. Carmine Coppola's orchestration was replaced, which caused legal complications with Omni Zoetrope. Hence, no North American distribution.