Abel Gance came up with the idea for this film the day his wife, Ida Denis, was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Gance completed editing on the 32 reel film on 9 April 1924, hours after Denis died.
Included among the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', edited by Steven Jay Schneider.
This film was originally released with a running time of 8 hours, 32 minutes. It was edited down to just over 5 hours for general release.
Was the first feature film to end with a freeze frame.