Voyna i mir (1967)

Director:

Sergei Bondarchuk

Writers:

Sergei Bondarchuk (writer)
Vasili Solovyov (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

War and Peace (1968) is an eight-hour epic film based on the eponymous book by Leo Tolstoy. Two main story-lines are complex and intertwined...

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Battle | Love | Russian Army | Peace

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Sergei Bondarchuk	...	Pierre Bezukhov
Lyudmila Savelyeva	...	Natasha Rostova
Vyacheslav Tikhonov	...	Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Boris Zakhava	...	Field Marshal Kutuzov
Anatoli Ktorov	...	Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky
Anastasiya Vertinskaya	...	Pricess Lisa Bolkonskaya
Antonina Shuranova	...	Princess Maria Bolkonskaya
Oleg Tabakov	...	Nikolai Rostov
Viktor Stanitsyn	...	Ilya Andreyevich Rostov
Irina Skobtseva	...	Hélène Bezukhova
Boris Smirnov	...	Prince Vasili Kuragin
Vasili Lanovoy	...	Anatol Kuragin
Kira Golovko	...	Countess Rostova
Irina Gubanova	...	Sonia Rostova
Aleksandr Borisov	...	Uncle Rostov

Also Known As:

Война и мир (Soviet Union: Russian title)
War and Peace (USA)

Runtime:

UK:401 min (video version) | USA:414 min (4 parts) | Soviet Union:427 min | Italy:263 min (2 parts) | Argentina:453 min (4 parts)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian | German | French

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (RCA Sound System) (35 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (Restored version)

Certification:

Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Arkhangelskoe, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

Lyudmila Savelyeva came to the 1969 Academy Awards, she received the Oscar on behalf of the filmmakers. But when she came back to Moscow, the Soviet authorities entered the airplane. The Soviet government took the Oscar away from the filmmakers.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When some of the characters are attending the opera, "L'incoronazione di Poppea" by Claudio Monteverdi is being performed. It premiered in Venice in 1642, but by the time that the story takes place (ca. 1807), it had been lost and all but forgotten. A score wasn't rediscovered until 1888, and the first modern performance was given in 1905. The anachronism is probably intentional since Monteverdi's tale of the destructiveness of erotic desire foreshadows the events immediately after that scene.

Quotes:

Narrator: And not for this day and hour alone were the mind and conscience of this man darkened, on whom the burden of events weighed more heavily than on all the others who took part in it. Never, to the end of his life, had he the least comprehension of goodness...

Movie Connections:

Version of La guerre et la paix (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Prologue

The most faithful movie adaptation of a book I've seen

When you see the movie that adapts your favorite work of literature you have high expectations. You have a picture of the scenes, locations and characters in your mind, and hardly ever a movie comes close to those images. Likewise, I found the 1954 movie War and Peace very disappointing. I was prepared for a similar experience before I saw the two-part movie by Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk. And was surprised. Still, the seven hours' version still omits many facets (including the almost satirical epilogue) of the original 1600 pages work of Leo Tolstoy. But never before lived a movie up to the images of my mind like this one. The actors, the locations, must have been picked very carefully, because they are very close to how they are depicted in the book. In more than one instance I had the feeling that my imagination had been brought to the screen. But it isn't the faithful rendition of the material alone that makes this movie so unique and wonderful. The broad scope of emotions, the grand scale of the aristocracy's parties with all their luxury, the battles with tens of thousands of extras, the impressive burning of Moscow, the actors who don't act but live the plot, it all adds to the wonderful experience of this film. This movie is highly recommended to any true lover of Tolstoy's book, who is interested in Napoleonic history or simply anyone who likes deep, moving, impressive movies. For anyone interested in Napoleonic history, I also highly recommend Bondarchuk's Waterloo, from 1969/70.