War and Peace (1966)

A Russian Prince experiences battle against Napoleon and a troubled relationship with his father and wife. Finds acceptance of her death and eventually his chance of true love. A spoiled, ... See full summary »

Director:

Sergey Bondarchuk

Writers:

Sergey Bondarchuk, Vasiliy Solovyov

Stars:

Lyudmila Saveleva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergey Bondarchuk

Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sergey Bondarchuk	...	Pierre Bezukhov
Lyudmila Saveleva	...	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
Vasiliy Lanovoy	...	Anatol Kuragin
Kira Golovko	...	Countess Rostova
Irina Gubanova	...	Sonia Rostova
Aleksandr Borisov	...	Uncle Rostov

Storyline

A Russian Prince experiences battle against Napoleon and a troubled relationship with his father and wife. Finds acceptance of her death and eventually his chance of true love. A spoiled, high-society fickle young woman loves and her years of unhappiness. A Count illegitimate, idler son reflects on politics and friendship. Experiences his first and hopeless love, is forced into a marriage with serious consequences and finally survives Napoleon invasion of Moscow and its aftermath.

---

Plot Keywords:

marriage | battle | russia | epic | friendship | 

---

Taglines:

The Greatest Motion Picture Ever Made...Has Been Made

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Romance | War

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Mosfilm [rus]

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian German French

Release Date:

28 April 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

War and Peace

Filming Locations:

Arkhangelskoe, Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$9,213,013 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

401 min (video) 414 min (4 parts) 263 min (2 parts) 453 min (4 parts) 403 min (Québec)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Original Russian cut runs 445 minutes. Part1= 148 min, Part2= 101 min, Part3= 85 min, Part4= 101 min.

---

Goofs

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

Tushin: Uncertainty, that's what one fears most.

---

Alternate Versions

In addition to their multi-tape release, Kultur Video released this film on a single VHS tape (recorded at extended play). This version is English dubbed, pan and scanned, and edited into a single feature with no intermissions or recaps. The running time of this one-tape version is 358 minutes.

---

Connections

Version of War & Peace (2016)

---

Soundtracks

Prologue
(uncredited)
from "L'Incoronazione di Poppea"
Composed by Claudio Monteverdi
Written by Giovanni Francesco Busenello

User Reviews

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.